The barrister in the article is self-employed. Barristers who work in a Chambers are self employed. If you work for the Crown Prosecution service, you are employed and get all the benefits of that.
Members of a Chambers have common expenses, which she listed, where they pool money to cover the office expenses. They pay their own travel and this can be a huge expense.
After doing a Law degree or the GDL, an aspiring barrister will then do the Barristers' Professional Training course at a recognised provider. Although then doing an MA or volunteering for a year is common before starting the BPTC. If a student has done the GDL, then the BPTC comes after that, or after doing an MA. You get the picture! The BPTC can be completed at Northumbria, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Nottingham and 3 Universities in London. The cost will be £20,000 plus in London next year for this course but less in the provinces. You join an Inn of Court as a student and hopefully get a scholarship from them to help pay the fees. You also have to pay living expenses and the scholarships are never more than the cost of the course.
If a young person can get a pupillage (training year with a Chambers which follows successful completion of the BPTC) before the student starts the BPTC, you can draw down on the sum of money that goes with the pupillage. However at a criminal chambers, it may be £12,000 so this will only cover the pupillage year and these chambers may not recruit before the BPTC anyway. For a top chambers, their pupillage award of £50,000-£65,000 can be partly spent on the BPTC year and the pupillage year. The problem is that few get these amounts . £12,000-£30,000 is more common. This money is paid to the pupil by the Barristers in the Chambers. It is a reflection of what they earn and the status of the Chambers and the type of person they wish to recruit. Some areas of law are more lucrative than others. Some Chambers never recruit pupils at all.
Criminal Barristers, at the lower end, are paid little and her account sounds accurate to me. It is interesting that, on another thread, Doctors think they are hard done by. I think people do think Barristers do a good job but it has to be treated as a way of life. There are far better hourly rates in commercial areas of practice but they are the most difficult to secure.
The comment about Northumbria was from the "Legal Cheek" website and it was their comments on "The BPTC Providers with the Highest Chance of Pupilage". The figures were from the Bar Standards Board. However, Northumbria has a huge proportion (80% in 2015) of overseas students on the course who may not be looking for pupillage in this country. The Bar Barometer published by the Bar Standards Board also makes interesting reading, although not very up to date.
Sorry to have rambled on.