Nick Thomas

The salary increases are performance-based and apply to all eligible fee-earning and business services staff.

In June the firm reported record turnover of £238 million for the financial year 2019/20, a nine per cent increase on the previous 12 months.

Kennedys is one of only a few firms not to announce any redundancies, reduce staff hours, cut pay or place any staff on the UK government’s furlough scheme during the pandemic. It also confirmed very early on that it would honour all staff bonus commitments this year.

Kennedys is also honouring all trainee and apprenticeship positions this year, with 27 trainees joining the firm this month and 11 apprentices joining in September, including for the first time two claims apprentices. Trainees will start their contracts via a virtual induction but will be welcomed to their new office locations from September as they begin to open up, subject to local government guidance.

Nick Thomas, senior partner of Kennedys, said: “It gives me immense satisfaction and pride to lead a partnership which chooses to reward our staff during what is a challenging time for so many businesses. But the reality is that they’ve earned it and deserve it having demonstrated their ability to maintain productivity remotely, helped by our robust IT platforms. As a business, we live and breathe by ‘doing the right thing’ for our people and our clients, and we will never lose sight of the fact that our success is down to our people.

“We make these increases partly off the back of an excellent financial year, but also with an eye on further success. We’re certainly not immune to the challenges of the pandemic, but we are a strong, well-run business and will proceed this year with a combination of cautious optimism and a focus on continued growth.”