How the check works out hours and cost

How does the check work out the hours?

How often a job happens, times how long it takes. Weekly answers become monthly at 4.33 weeks a month. A job done by both support staff and fee earners is split half and half. Hours are rounded to one decimal place.

Where do the hourly costs come from?

Support-staff time starts at £19.67, the ONS median hourly pay for full-time employees in April 2025, before employer costs. Fee-earner time starts at £87.42: the Law Society's 2025 median cost per fee earner (£70,551) divided by the median 807 chargeable hours.

Why are support-staff and fee-earner time priced separately?

Because they cost the firm very different amounts: at the starting figures, a fee-earner hour costs about four and a half times a support-staff hour. A shorter job done by fee earners can cost more than a longer one done by support staff.

How does the check decide which job comes first?

By what each job costs a month, highest first, then by hours. A job that needs client documents moves down if your answers say documents can't go into an AI tool yet, and the plan says why.

If fee earners do some of the first job, the plan also shows those hours over a year as a share of the Law Society median of 807 chargeable hours.

What never goes first?

Conflict, ID and AML checks, because those decisions stay with a solicitor and your MLRO. Legal advice, court work and fee quotes aren't on the list at all.

Why doesn't the check show a saving?

Because nobody can know it before a pilot. The plan shows what jobs cost now and how to measure a pilot. Freed fee-earner time isn't fee income on its own, so the plan never counts it.

What happens to my answers?

They stay in your browser tab and clear when you close it, unless you request a review and include your plan.