Law firm to repay Job Retention Scheme funds

Law firm Freeths has announced they it is paying back funds received from the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, following an “exceptional effort” in exceeding the firm’s 2020/21 Covid-adjusted targets.

Freeths says it has also repaid staff for a three-month salary reduction, paid all staff an 8.5% bonus and accelerated its annual salary review.

Karl Jansen, national managing partner at Freeths, said: “Following review of our year end position, we are in a stronger position than we anticipated when the pandemic first hit. A great deal of hard work and effort went into achieving the excellent year end result, with. the firm exceeding £100m turnover for the second year in succession and exceeding budget by over 6%”.

Freeths’ chairman, Julian Middleton, added: “Thanks to the exceptional efforts of our hard-working partners and staff, and the strength of our client relationships, the year ultimately turned out much better than we expected. We were rightly cautious in our approach to the pandemic, but avoided the worst of the impact. We believe that paying back the furlough funds is very much the right thing to do.

“We really appreciate the way that all our people came together to support our clients through such a difficult period. With the end of lockdown in sight, we are in a strong position to continue to provide an inclusive and rewarding place for our people, and to deliver excellent service to our clients.”