Websites for UK solicitors: SRA Transparency Rules

Last checked: October 2026. The SRA Transparency Rules require regulated law firms, and individual freelance solicitors, to publish cost information on their website if they publish, as part of their usual business, that they offer certain services. The SRA's price transparency resource dates the start to 6 December 2018. The version of the rules we read is in effect from 11 April 2025, and the SRA's guidance on transparency in price and service was last updated on 30 September 2024.

The SRA says the rules aim to help consumers get the information they need to make an informed choice of provider, including being able to compare prices and services more easily.

This is a summary for people who commission or maintain solicitors' websites. It is not legal or regulatory advice. Which rules apply to your firm, and how, is for you and your compliance officer to decide, using the SRA's own rules and guidance, which we read on the SRA website on 20 October 2026.

Rule 1 lists the services. For individuals:

• residential conveyancing: freehold or leasehold sales or purchases, and mortgages or remortgages;
• probate: collecting and distributing the assets of a person who has died, where the assets are in the UK and the matter is not contested;
• immigration: applications, excluding asylum applications, and appeals at the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) against Home Office visa or immigration decisions, excluding asylum appeals;
• motoring offences: summary-only road traffic offences dealt with at a single hearing in the Magistrates' Court;
• employment tribunal claims brought by employees for unfair or wrongful dismissal.

For businesses:

• defending employment tribunal claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal;
• debt recovery up to the value of £100,000;
• licensing applications for business premises.

Rule 1 does not apply to publicly funded work. The SRA's format examples are written for residential conveyancing and probate, with a general example to adapt for the other areas. The important design point is that the rules attach to services, so your website's structure should make it easy to show the required information next to each relevant service.

Under rule 1.5, the cost information must include:

• the total cost, or the average cost or range of costs where a total is not practicable;
• the basis for your charges, including any hourly rates or fixed fees;
• the experience and qualifications of anyone carrying out the work, and of their supervisors;
• a description and the cost of any likely disbursements, with an average or range where the actual cost is not known;
• whether fees or disbursements attract VAT, and if so the amount;
• what the displayed price includes, including the key stages of the matter and likely timescales for each, and any services a client might reasonably expect to be included but are not; and
• for conditional fee or damages-based agreements, the circumstances in which clients may have to pay themselves, including from damages.

Rule 1.6 adds that the information must be clear and accessible and in a prominent place on your website. The SRA's guidance puts it in web terms: a location that is accessible, clearly signposted and easy for visitors to find.

Rule 2 applies to every authorised firm, not only those offering the listed services. The firm must publish its complaints handling procedure on its website, including how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA. A firm without a website must make the rule 1 and 2 information available on request.

Rule 4.1 requires an authorised firm to display its SRA number and the SRA's digital badge in a prominent place on its website. The SRA's year-one evaluation describes this as the clickable logo, required for all firms with a website since November 2019; clicking it takes visitors to information confirming that the firm is regulated and the protections clients can expect. Rule 4.2 also requires letterheads and emails to show the SRA authorisation number and the words "authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority", so check your email signature templates while you work on the site.

The SRA's web sweep report, updated on 25 November 2019, covers sweeps carried out in March and April 2019. The SRA selected 500 law firm websites; 53 were not working or still under construction, so the results cover 447 sites. Of those, 25% were fully complying, 58% partially and 17% not at all.

The most common failures were to:

• publish the required complaints information;
• specify the amount of VAT applied to costs and disbursements;
• show key stages or timescales; and
• describe likely disbursements or their costs.

More than half of the firms (52%) displayed no complaints information at all. Immigration had the lowest compliance, with only 67% of firms complying in full or in part. The report is several years old, but the pattern is a useful checklist: it shows which pieces of information are easy to forget.

Rules require the information, but the website decides whether anyone can use it. Practical principles:

Put it on the service page

Price and service information belongs next to the service it describes, not in a document hidden in the footer. A visitor reading about conveyancing should see how costs are calculated without hunting for a separate page.

Use a consistent layout

The SRA's guidance says firms are not required to use its templates; they are there to use and adapt. A repeatable block works well on every service page: price or range; what is included; what is not; disbursements; VAT; stages and timescales; who will do the work; how to complain.

Write in plain English

Prices that are accurate but unreadable do not help consumers. Short sentences, defined terms and tables for costs make the page easier to read, and easier to keep up to date.

Make it accessible

Use real headings and table markup, enough contrast and descriptive link text, so people using assistive technology can read the information. We explain accessibility statements in a separate article.

Keep it current

Out-of-date prices are as much of a problem as missing ones. Give someone responsibility for reviewing the information when fees change, and record when each page was last checked.

This is a suggested structure, not SRA wording. Use the SRA's own templates and guidance for the content itself. Reading order, from top to bottom:

Repeating the same blocks on every service page makes the site easier to maintain and easier for visitors to scan. A content management system with fields for each block lets a fee earner update a price without touching the design.

• Price in a PDF only. It is harder to read on a phone, harder to keep current and may not be accessible.
• Different numbers in different places. If the service page says one thing and a brochure another, a visitor will notice.
• Prices behind a form. The SRA's guidance says people should not be required to provide detailed information before they can obtain the price information, and notes research showing that people dislike being forced to give an email address or phone number to an online price generator.
• No review date. Without a date, nobody knows whether the information is current.
• Forgotten pages. Landing pages made for advertising campaigns can carry old prices long after the main site is updated.

1. Which of our services fall within rule 1, and is the information on each page?
2. Does each page give a total, or an average or range if a total is impossible?
3. Is the basis of charging explained?
4. Are likely disbursements listed with costs?
5. Is it clear whether VAT applies, and how much?
6. Is it clear what the price includes and excludes, and when payment may be due under conditional or damages-based arrangements?
7. Are the stages and timescales realistic?
8. Are the experience and qualifications of the people doing the work, and their supervisors, shown?
9. Is the complaints procedure complete, including the SRA and Legal Ombudsman routes?
10. Are the SRA number and the digital badge displayed prominently, and does the badge work?
11. Who reviews all of this, and when?

We design and build the structure: service pages with a clear information block, a layout that is easy to update, and a site that works on mobile and with assistive technology. We do not decide what your firm must publish. That stays with you and your compliance lead.

Simple presentation websites start from €300 excluding VAT, and professional-services projects are scoped individually. See our services, the references page, or send details through the quote form. You can also contact us directly.

• SRA Transparency Rules – Solicitors Regulation Authority
• Transparency in price and service (guidance) – Solicitors Regulation Authority
• Price transparency (resource, November 2018) – Solicitors Regulation Authority
• SRA Transparency Rules: Web sweep report – Solicitors Regulation Authority
• Better information in the legal services market: year one evaluation of the Transparency Rules – Solicitors Regulation Authority