What the SRA Transparency Rules Actually Make You Publish

The short answer: yes, if your firm does certain work. Conveyancing, probate, motoring offences, immigration, employment tribunal claims, debt recovery under £100,000, business licensing. The SRA Transparency Rules say that if you offer any of those, you must publish prices for that work on your website. Separately, every firm the SRA regulates has to show its SRA number and a complaints procedure. That part applies whether or not any of those seven areas apply to you. The rules have been in force since 6 December 2018. Plenty of solicitor websites still do not fully comply. We build websites for solicitors. Here is exactly what the rules require, and where firms usually fall short.

Key takeaways

• If you publish that you offer any of seven specific services, you must publish price and service information for that work: conveyancing (residential), probate (uncontested), motoring offences (summary only), immigration (excluding asylum), employment tribunals (unfair or wrongful dismissal), debt recovery up to £100,000, and licensing applications for business premises.
• Price information must state the total cost, or a range, the basis for charges, likely disbursements, and whether VAT is included.
• Separate from pricing, every authorised firm must display its SRA number and digital badge, plus a complaints procedure explaining how to escalate to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA.
• Firms without a website still have to make the same information available on request.
• Requiring someone to book a consultation before they can see a price does not satisfy the rules.

Which seven services trigger price publishing?

Rule 1 of the SRA Transparency Rules applies to firms that publish, as part of their usual business, that they offer any of these:

1. Residential conveyancing (sales, purchases, mortgages or re-mortgages).
2. Uncontested probate, where the estate is in the UK.
3. Immigration applications, excluding asylum.
4. Immigration tribunal appeals, excluding asylum, at the First-tier Tribunal.
5. Summary motoring offences dealt with at a single Magistrates' Court hearing.
6. Employment tribunal claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal, for either employees or employers defending a claim.
7. Debt recovery up to £100,000, and licensing applications for business premises, for business clients.

If your firm markets any of these as a service it offers, price information for that service has to be on your website, not available "on enquiry."

What does the price information actually have to cover?

The SRA's own guidance sets out what counts as compliant. You must publish:

• The total cost of the service, or, where a fixed figure is not realistic, the average cost or a range.
• The basis for your charges, including any hourly rate or fixed fee.
• The experience and qualifications of whoever will carry out the work, and of their supervisors.
• Likely disbursements, described and costed, or given as an average where the exact figure varies.
• Whether VAT applies, and either the percentage or the amount.
• What is included in the price, the key stages of the matter, typical timescales, and anything a client might reasonably expect to be included that is not.

One detail catches firms out: an online quote generator has to produce a price on the spot. Making the quote depend on a follow-up call before the figure is confirmed does not satisfy the rule.

Which parts apply whether or not you do any of the seven?

Two further requirements sit outside Rule 1. They apply to every firm the SRA authorises, regardless of what services you offer:

• Rule 2: publish your complaints handling procedure, including how and when a client can escalate to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA itself, as set out in the SRA Transparency Rules themselves.
• Rule 4: display your SRA authorisation number and the SRA's digital badge in a prominent place on your website, and show the same number on your letterhead and emails.

These two are easy to miss because they read like small print, but they are checked as often as the pricing pages.

Where do solicitor websites usually fall short?

In the sites we scan, the gaps cluster in a few places. Pricing pages exist but bury the disbursements, so a client sees a headline conveyancing fee with no mention of search fees or Land Registry costs sitting on top. Fee-earner bios list qualifications but skip the specifics the rules ask for, like years of post-qualification experience. The complaints page is a PDF from a client-care letter template, sitting nowhere a visitor would find it. The SRA digital badge, when it appears at all, is often a static image rather than the clickable badge the SRA issues, which is meant to let a client verify authorisation directly.

None of this needs a redesign. It needs the missing information written once and placed somewhere a client can actually find it: a pricing page per regulated service, a complaints page linked from the footer, and the SRA number and badge in the footer alongside it. Accountants face the same question without the rulebook, since most of their work also comes by referral; we went through it in do accountants need a website if clients are referrals.

What does building this properly cost?

Our prices are on the price list, the same ones every client sees: the website is free and £39 a month keeps us working on it to bring you more customers, with each additional service page £89. That means conveyancing, probate and employment tribunal pricing can each have their own page, instead of fighting for space on one. If your site already exists and just needs the missing pieces, a website rescue is free with Starter too. It keeps your domain, your content and your Google history. The £39 a month covers updating prices and disbursement figures when they change, since the rules require the published information to stay current.

The standard caveat applies: we build websites, we are not solicitors and this is not legal advice. The rules themselves are on the SRA's website and worth reading directly if you are unsure whether a service you offer is covered.

How do you check your current site?

Our free scanner at buildmydigital.co.uk/scan runs the 48 checks we use before any build ships, including the trust and content signals these rules sit inside. It takes a couple of minutes and no email is required. Then check your own pricing pages against the six information points above, and your footer against the SRA number, digital badge and complaints link.

Common questions

Do the Transparency Rules apply to every solicitor?

Rule 1's pricing requirement only applies if you publish that you offer one of the seven listed services. Rules 2 and 4, covering complaints procedures and your SRA number and digital badge, apply to every firm the SRA authorises, with or without a website.

What if I do not have a website?

The same information still has to be available, just in another format, such as a printed leaflet or a document you can hand over promptly on request. A client should not have to give detailed information about their case before they can get it.

Can I just say "prices on request"?

Not for the seven listed services. The rules exist so a client can compare providers before they get in touch, so the information has to be published, not gated behind an enquiry.

What does fixing the gaps cost?

Real prices, as always: the website is free, £39 a month keeps us working on it to bring you more customers, additional pages are £89 each, and a website rescue of your existing site is free with Starter as well. Cancel any month, or own it outright for £299, and the domain is yours.