City firm Withers today announced that it is giving staff a one-off £1,000 payment to ‘help with the increase in the cost of living’ as it reported an 10% increase in revenue.

The firm posted £267m in revenue in the year to 1 July 2022, up from £243.7m in the previous financial year’s results when turnover increased by 11%. It also recorded net profits for distribution to equity partners before tax of £54.3m, though profit per equity partner was up by just 1% to £668,000 following a 32% rise last year.

Withers said it will make a ‘special one-off payment’ of £1,000, or a local equivalent, to ‘all trainees, secretaries, paralegals in [the] EU and Asia and all business services employees below manager level’.

National firm Freeths is also handing out bonuses of just over 6% to all staff, in addition to an average pay rise of around 10% to help with the cost of living crisis.

Its chairman Julian Middleton said: ‘Our people are our priority as they are the very heart of our business, without them we cannot continue the remarkable growth trajectory that we have achieved over the last ten years.

‘We value and recognise everyone and it’s by working together that we can achieve our business objectives. But we know that it is not just about financial reward – we also fully support our people in their personal wellbeing and their professional development.’

The firms are the latest to announce they are providing financial support to their staff to help with the rising cost of living, following recent similar announcements by firms including Shoosmiths, Clifford Chance, Bird & Bird, Osborne Clarke and Irwin Mitchell.