SRA Transparency Rules: what must a law firm's website show?

Which version applies

This guide follows the SRA Transparency Rules as published on the SRA's website: the current version in effect from 11 April 2025. The SRA has said publicly that it is looking at whether to widen the price rules to more areas of law, but the version in force today lists only the services below. Check the SRA page before relying on this.

Prices: which services are covered (rule 1)

Rule 1 applies when your firm publishes, as part of its usual business, that it offers one of these services. For individuals (rule 1.3):

• residential conveyancing (buying, selling and remortgaging);
• collecting and distributing a deceased person's assets (estate administration) where they are in the UK and the matter is not contested;
• preparing and submitting immigration applications, and appeals to the First-tier Tribunal against Home Office visa or immigration decisions, excluding asylum;
• summary-only road traffic offences dealt with at a single magistrates' court hearing;
• employment tribunal claims by employees for unfair or wrongful dismissal.

For businesses (rule 1.4):

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

Publicly funded (legal aid) work is excluded (rule 1.2).

The seven things your cost information must cover (rule 1.5)

1. The total cost of the service or, where that isn't practicable, the average cost or a range of costs.
2. The basis for your charges, such as hourly rates or fixed fees.
3. The experience and qualifications of anyone carrying out the work, and of their supervisors.
4. A description of likely disbursements and their cost.
5. Whether fees or disbursements attract VAT, and how much.
6. What the price includes and excludes, including the key stages of the matter and likely timescales.
7. Where you offer conditional fee or damages-based agreements, the circumstances in which clients may have to make payments themselves.

Rule 1.6 adds that the information must be "clear and accessible and in a prominent place" on your website. A PDF three clicks deep doesn't meet that. A prices page linked from the main menu and from each relevant service page does.

Complaints (rule 2)

Every firm must publish its complaints handling procedure on its website, including details of how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA. A link in the footer to a complaints page is the usual approach.

SRA number and digital badge (rule 4)

• Your SRA number and the SRA digital badge must be displayed in a prominent place on your website (rule 4.1). Most firms put the badge in the footer of every page.
• Your letterhead and emails must show your SRA number and the words "authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority" (rule 4.2).

Firms without a website must make the price and complaints information available on request instead (rule 3).

Where marketing usually trips up

• Service pages without prices. The price information sits on one page, but the conveyancing page that Google sends people to has no link to it.
• Out-of-date figures. Disbursements such as search fees and Land Registry fees change. Put a review date in your diary.
• Team details missing. Rule 1.5(c) wants the experience and qualifications of the people doing the work, not just the firm's history.
• Social posts quoting prices. "Conveyancing from £X" on social media still has to be accurate and not misleading (Code of Conduct 8.8). Make sure the website figure behind it says the same.
• A new site launched without the badge. The SRA digital badge is a small piece of code from the SRA. It is easily lost in a redesign, so check for it after any website change.

This guide is general information about marketing rules, not legal advice on a particular situation. Check the current version of the rules, or take advice, before relying on it for your firm.