In December 2018, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) introduced mandatory price transparency rules for law firms in England and Wales. The rules require firms offering certain services to publish pricing information on their websites — a significant departure from the traditional model where fees were discussed only at the first client contact.

Five years on, the rules have bedded in, but compliance remains inconsistent. The SRA’s own monitoring programme has found that a substantial proportion of firms are not fully compliant, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — whose 2016 report on the legal services market catalysed the reforms — continues to press for further transparency.

This guide explains what the rules require, which practice areas are in scope, what “compliance” actually looks like, and how to approach publication in a way that supports rather than undermines your firm’s commercial position.

Background: Why Transparency Rules Were Introduced

The CMA Report and Its Findings

The Competition and Markets Authority’s 2016 report on competition in the legal services market in England and Wales found significant failures in consumer information. Key findings included:

74% of consumers did not get quotes from more than one provider before instructing a solicitor
The majority of consumers chose their solicitor based on recommendation or prior relationship, with no price comparison
Price information was rarely available before first contact, making comparison effectively impossible
Low levels of transparency were associated with lower competitive pressure and higher prices

The CMA concluded that requiring firms to publish pricing information would increase competition, improve consumer choice, and deliver better value. The SRA’s transparency rules were the regulatory response.

The SRA’s Transparency Requirements

The rules came into force on 6 December 2018 under the SRA Transparency Rules (now incorporated into the SRA Standards and Regulations 2019). They apply to all authorised bodies regulated by the SRA.

The rules have two distinct components:

Price and service information: firms offering specified services must publish relevant price and service information on their website (if they have one)
Regulatory information: all firms must publish defined regulatory information on their website and in email footers

Which Services Must Publish Pricing?

The Six Mandated Practice Areas

The SRA’s price transparency obligations apply to six service categories where consumers are most likely to be seeking to compare providers:

1. Residential Conveyancing

Firms must publish their typical fees for:

Freehold purchase
Leasehold purchase
Freehold sale
Leasehold sale
Remortgage

For each service, you must publish either: a fixed fee, a range of fees with the basis for variation explained, or an explanation of how fees are calculated (e.g. hourly rate with a typical range). You must also publish:

A list of disbursements and their typical amounts (Land Registry fees, search fees, SDLT, etc.)
Whether the fees quoted include VAT, and if not, what the VAT treatment is
The typical timescales for each type of transaction

Leasehold transactions — where additional complexity is common — should be explained and the additional charges disclosed.

2. Probate

Where a firm offers probate services to members of the public, it must publish:

Whether you offer estate administration as well as obtaining the grant alone
Your fees for uncontested probate with typical complexity ranges
What factors affect the fee (e.g. number of beneficiaries, whether there is inheritance tax, the size of the estate)
Disbursements (probate application fee, swearing fees)

Many firms offer tiered probate fees — a lower fee for obtaining the grant only, a higher fee for full estate administration. Both tiers should be disclosed.

3. Employment Tribunal Claims (Claimant)

For employment tribunal claims, firms must publish:

Your typical fee for a straightforward unfair dismissal claim
The basis on which fees are charged (fixed fee, hourly rate, conditional fee)
What the published fee covers (e.g. up to and including the hearing, or just the initial advice)
Disbursements (though ET proceedings have no court fees since the Supreme Court’s Unison ruling in 2017)

This practice area is particularly important for compliance monitoring — it is the area where the SRA has most frequently found firms non-compliant.

4. Immigration (Excluding Asylum)

For non-asylum immigration work — applications for leave to remain, settlement, naturalisation, EEA residence — firms must publish typical fees for the most common application types they handle. Disbursements, including Home Office application fees, must be published.

Given the wide range of immigration application types, firms may publish fees for the most common categories they handle and note that fees for other matter types are available on request.

5. Motoring Offences

For motoring offences (driving with excess alcohol, dangerous driving, etc.), firms must publish:

Fixed fees or fee ranges for the most common offence types
Whether the fee includes representation at court
The basis for any variable element

6. Debt Recovery (Undisputed Claims Up to £100,000)

For creditor-side debt recovery of undisputed debts, firms must publish their fees for the process through to judgment. The SRA guidance notes that this should cover the full process rather than just initial claim issue.

What Does Compliance Actually Look Like?

The Content Requirements

For each mandated service, the SRA’s guidance (not strictly the rules themselves, but the authoritative interpretation) requires:

Fees: Clear indication of either a fixed fee, a range (with explanation of what moves the fee to the higher end), or the hourly rate with a typical total. Vague statements like “fees depend on the complexity of the matter” without any figures are not compliant.

Disbursements: A list of likely third-party costs the client will have to pay, with typical amounts where they are predictable (Land Registry fees, court fees) or an explanation where they are variable (barrister fees, expert costs).

Timescales: A realistic indication of how long the matter typically takes.

Experience: The qualifications and experience of those who will carry out the work, and who supervises it.

VAT: Clear statement of whether stated prices include or exclude VAT.

The Presentation Requirements

The information must be on the firm’s website, in a location that a prospective client would reasonably expect to find it. Burying pricing information in a PDF linked from the footer is unlikely to be considered compliant. The SRA’s guidance indicates the information should be:

Clear and easy to understand for a non-specialist consumer
Prominently displayed — easily found by a reasonable website user
Up-to-date

A dedicated “Our Fees” or “Price Transparency” page, linked from the navigation, is the standard compliant approach. The information on the page should not require the visitor to submit a contact form or provide personal information before they can see it — that would defeat the purpose of transparency.

The Regulatory Information Requirements

Separately from the pricing obligations, all SRA-regulated firms must display on their website:

The firm’s trading name and SRA registration number
The SRA regulated status badge (with link to the SRA register)
Whether the firm has professional indemnity insurance and, if it uses a packaged indemnity fund, confirmation of that fact
Jurisdiction: confirmation the firm is authorised in England and Wales
Complaints information: your firm’s complaint procedure and the right to refer to the Legal Ombudsman

Email footers should include the SRA registration number and registered office. This is a separate obligation from the pricing rules but is monitored at the same time.

How the SRA Monitors Compliance

Mystery Shopping and Website Checks

The SRA uses a combination of proactive website monitoring (sometimes using automated scanning tools) and targeted mystery shopping exercises to assess compliance. Since 2019, the SRA has conducted multiple rounds of thematic checks specifically on price transparency, naming firms found to be non-compliant in sector-wide reports.

The SRA’s October 2022 thematic review found that 25% of sampled firms were still not meeting their transparency obligations in full — either publishing no pricing information, providing information too vague to be meaningful, or failing to cover all required elements. The report named specific compliance failures and referenced regulatory action taken against repeat non-compliers.

Enforcement

Where a firm fails to comply with the transparency rules, the SRA can:

Issue a formal warning or rebuke
Require the firm to take specific remedial action within a defined period
Refer the matter to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in serious or persistent cases

The SRA has made clear that transparency compliance is not optional and that the sector-wide monitoring programme will continue. The most common enforcement outcome to date is a formal requirement to comply within 30 days, but the SRA has indicated it will escalate enforcement where firms repeatedly fail to respond.

The Commercial Case for Good Transparency

Why Some Firms Get It Wrong

A common concern among solicitors about price transparency is that publishing fees reduces negotiating flexibility, exposes the firm to low-price competitors, and signals a lower-quality positioning. These concerns are understandable but generally misplaced:

Negotiating flexibility: published fees can be presented as “from” figures or ranges. Publishing a starting point does not prevent you from quoting more for a complex matter.
Competition: clients who would choose the cheapest solicitor regardless of quality were rarely going to instruct your firm anyway. Price transparency changes the behaviour of price-sensitive consumers without materially affecting quality-focused ones.
Positioning: clear, confident pricing presentation actually signals competence and professionalism, not commoditisation.

The Client Acquisition Advantage

Firms with clear, well-presented pricing pages consistently report higher website conversion rates than those without. A prospective client who can see that your residential conveyancing fees start at £895 + disbursements for a standard freehold purchase — and who can understand exactly what is included — is better positioned to instruct you than one who has to call to get a quote and then feels pressured when they receive one.

The CMA’s own research suggests that price transparency increases consumer willingness to instruct, particularly for consumers who have no prior relationship with a solicitor.

Common Compliance Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Fees Too Vague to Be Useful

Publishing “fees start from £X” without explaining what that starting point covers, or what factors increase the fee, does not meet the spirit of the requirement. A compliant range explanation might be: “Standard freehold purchase: £895 + VAT for properties up to £500,000. Leasehold properties add £250; new-build properties add £300; Help to Buy or shared ownership add £200.”

Omitting Disbursements

Many firms publish professional fees but omit disbursements entirely. Clients who see a fee of £1,200 for conveyancing and then receive an invoice for £3,500 (including SDLT, searches, Land Registry, and transfer fee) feel deceived — even though the solicitor’s fee was exactly as quoted. Disbursements must be published.

Outdated Pricing

Fee schedules that were written in 2019 and never updated are a compliance risk (fees may now be materially different) and a commercial problem (potential clients receive incorrect information). Review and update your pricing page at least annually.

Looking Ahead

The CMA and the Legal Services Board continue to push for broader transparency obligations, including publication of quality metrics (client satisfaction scores, complaint rates) and outcome data (success rates in litigation and employment tribunals). The government has not yet mandated these additional elements, but the direction of travel is clear. Firms that build a transparency-first culture now — rather than complying minimally — are better placed for future regulatory requirements.

Good costs transparency and good billing practices go hand in hand. Obiter supports firms in maintaining up-to-date, accurate fee information and in communicating costs clearly to clients throughout a matter — helping meet SRA obligations while building the client trust that leads to better payment outcomes.

Summary

The SRA’s price transparency rules are a permanent feature of the regulatory landscape, monitored actively and enforced against non-compliant firms. Compliance requires publishing meaningful pricing information — not vague qualifications — for residential conveyancing, probate, employment tribunals, immigration, motoring offences, and debt recovery. Firms that approach transparency as a commercial opportunity rather than a regulatory burden are increasingly finding that clear pricing builds client confidence, increases conversion, and reduces billing disputes.

Legal Costs Transparency Regulations: What Solicitors Need to Know