Watson Farley & Williams has offered £5,000 to a number of its trainees to defer the start of their training contracts by one year.

The move, first reported on RollOnFriday, was confirmed by Watson Farley partner and training principal Christina Howard, who denied that the firm's trainees were being under-utilised.

"As many other London firms have done, we have considered trainee recruitment levels as part of our ongoing business planning strategy," added Howard. "We think that it would be better to defer a small number of trainees and therefore enquired whether that would fit with anyone's plans."

The firm said that its typical trainee intake was between 12 and 14, and stated that it intended to remain within that band following the deferrals.

Watson Farley did not comment on the number of trainees that had accepted the deferred package or whether the firm was offering additional support to trainees accepting the offer.

Last July Mayer Brown offered its incoming London trainees the option to defer their training contracts in exchange for a one-off payment of £10,000, with three agreeing to postpone their start date by 12 months.

This followed Wragge & Co's move to offer its September trainee intake £5,000 to defer their training for one year, though none took up the option. Prior to that, Olswang took the decision of deferring its September 2011 trainee intake and cancelled its 2013 London recruitment round due to "changes in client demand".

In 2009, a flurry of law firms deferred trainees during the immediate fallout from the credit crunch, including Denton Wilde Sapte, Shoosmiths, CMS Cameron McKenna and Mayer Brown.