SRA Transparency Rules: Website Checklist for Solicitors

The short answer: The SRA Transparency Rules ask a regulated firm's website to show four things: cost information for the services the rules list, how to complain, the firm's SRA number and the SRA digital badge. Below, we've turned the SRA rule text into a checklist.

Because this is general information and not legal advice, your compliance officer should approve the final wording with the SRA rules in hand. We read the SRA's pages on 10 November 2026, and we'd recheck them before you rely on this.

Which rules does a solicitor's website have to follow?

Rules 1, 2 and 4 apply to a firm's website, and rule 3 covers firms without one. The SRA says the rules set out "the information authorised firms, and individuals providing services to the public from outside authorised firms, should make available to clients and potential clients."

Rule	What it asks for	Where it shows up on a website
Rule 1	Cost information for the listed services	Price and service pages
Rule 2	Complaints procedure, including how to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA	A complaints page, linked from the footer
Rule 3	The same information on request, if the firm has no website	Not a website rule
Rule 4	SRA number and digital badge in a prominent place	Header, footer or contact page

Easy to miss, rule 4.2 adds one more point. A firm's letterhead and emails must show its SRA authorisation number and the words "authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority". Our reading is that this includes the automatic reply your contact form sends, so check it against rule 4.2.

Which services need a published price?

When a firm "publishes as part of its usual business the availability" of a listed service, rule 1.1 applies. If your site says you offer one, rule 1.1 means you must publish costs for it. Publicly funded work is excluded, and rule 1.2 says so.

Individuals get six services under rule 1.3:

Residential conveyancing: freehold or leasehold sales or purchases, and mortgages or re-mortgages.
Collecting and distributing a person's assets after death, where the assets are within the UK and the matter isn't contested.
Immigration applications, excluding asylum applications.
Advice and representation at the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) on appeals against Home Office visa or immigration decisions, excluding asylum appeals.
Advice and representation at the Magistrates Court on summary only road traffic offences dealt with at a single hearing.
Advice and representation for employees bringing an Employment Tribunal claim against an employer for unfair or wrongful dismissal.

Businesses get three under rule 1.4:

Advice and representation for employers defending those dismissal claims.
Debt recovery up to the value of £100,000.
Advice, assistance and representation on licensing applications for business premises.

Although divorce, personal injury and wills aren't on the rule 1.3 or 1.4 lists, the SRA's guidance still says it "may also be helpful to all firms who want to be transparent about their price and service information", so it's a choice, not a duty, for those areas.

What must the cost information say?

Rule 1.5 sets out seven items, and here's each one as a page element, with the SRA's own wording.

Rule 1.5	What the SRA says	What the page should show
(a)	"the total cost of the service or, where not practicable, the average cost or range of costs"	One headline figure or a range
(b)	"the basis for your charges, including any hourly rates or fixed fees"	Fixed fee or hourly rate, and what moves the price
(c)	"the experience and qualifications of anyone carrying out the work, and of their supervisors"	Names, roles and years of experience
(d)	"a description of, and the cost of, any likely disbursements"	A disbursements list with typical costs
(e)	"whether any fees or disbursements attract VAT"	VAT stated in pounds or as a percentage
(f)	"details of what services are included in the price displayed, including the key stages of the matter and likely timescales for each stage"	Stages, timescales, and anything a client might expect but won't get
(g)	"if you use conditional fee or damages based agreements, the circumstances in which clients may have to make any payments themselves"	A plain note on when the client pays

Once the content is set, rule 1.6 says the information must be "clear and accessible and in a prominent place on your website".

What else does the SRA's guidance add?

The SRA's guidance on transparency in price and service was last updated on 30 September 2024, and it adds 6 practical points that the rules themselves don't spell out.

VAT. If a price includes VAT, say how much, as a percentage or in pounds. If the firm isn't VAT-registered, the guidance says to state that on the website.
Price delivery model. If a face-to-face service costs more than a strictly online one, "you must make this clear".
Quote generators. An online quote tool "must produce a quote without requiring any additional contact at that stage". A call from the firm can't be a condition of seeing the figure.
Averages. A firm can publish the typical cost of a service, and doesn't need the mathematical mean of every case.
Experience. People's details needn't sit on the price page. Existing biographies or an "about us" page can carry them.
Plain English. The guidance recommends explaining terms such as disbursements, and avoiding jargon.

As the same guidance puts it, "one of the most common types of complaints dealt with by the Legal Ombudsman is where costs were unclear or different from the original estimate."

How does the SRA digital badge work?

The badge is a logo that links to SRA information about the protections a regulated firm offers, and the SRA calls it the "clickable logo" and says it "became a mandatory requirement on 25 November 2019".

Rule 4.1 says an authorised body must display its SRA number and the badge "in a prominent place on its website". The SRA rule says "prominent", but it doesn't say "footer". A badge visitors have to hunt for may not meet rule 4.1, so ask your compliance officer, who'll decide.

Getting the badge to show involves three steps, and they're from the SRA.

Check your website address in mySRA. The logo "will only work with websites linked to a regulated firm's mySRA." An authorised signatory or organisation contact goes to My Organisations, then the organisation's name, then Office Details, then Edit on the right office.
Wait 24 hours. The SRA asks you to allow at least 24 hours after updating website details.
Get the code from Yoshki. The SRA says Yoshki, its development partner, runs the scheme. The logo comes in three colour variations, and in Welsh.

Does page copy count as publicity?

Yes, in the sense that paragraph 8.8 of the SRA Code of Conduct says publicity "is accurate and not misleading, including that relating to your charges". Because paragraph 7.1 of the Code of Conduct for Firms applies paragraphs 8.6 to 8.11 to firms, the same duty reaches the firm. Under 8.8, a price on a landing page needs to be right, and it needs to match the cost page. Old prices on a blog post are the first problem we'd check for in the SRA's terms.

Paragraph 8.7 adds that clients should get "the best possible information about how their matter will be priced". Because 8.7 asks for the best possible information, your practice area pages and your cost pages should tell the same story.

What does this mean for rankings?

This section is our own advice, not the SRA's. The rules don't mention search, but the way a site carries them affects how easily Google and visitors find the information.

Use real page text. A price table in a PDF or an image is harder to read, harder to update and invisible to many tools. Put it in the page.
Link the cost page from each practice area page. Rule 1.6 asks for a prominent place. A link from the conveyancing page to the conveyancing cost page is the simplest way to meet that.
Keep one source of truth. If three pages state a fee, three pages need updating. Our solicitors page shows how we build price and service pages and link them from each practice area.
Match your firm details everywhere. Your name, address and SRA number should be the same on your site, on your Google profile and on directories. That's part of our local SEO work.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes on a build, our law firm SEO and website service includes the SRA digital badge, complaints information and price and service pages, and we leave time for your compliance officer to approve every word. If you want the cost side of hiring us or anyone else, see our guide to what law firm SEO costs in the UK.

A blank checklist for your own site

Tick each line only once you've checked it on the live site, not the staging copy, with your SRA number to hand.

Cost pages exist for every listed service we say we offer (rules 1.1, 1.3, 1.4)
Each cost page shows a total, average or range (1.5a)
Each shows the basis of charging (1.5b)
Each names who does the work and their experience (1.5c)
Each lists disbursements and typical costs (1.5d)
VAT is stated (1.5e)
Each says what's included, the stages, timescales and what isn't included (1.5f)
Conditional fee or damages-based terms are explained, if used (1.5g)
Cost pages sit in a prominent place and are linked from the right practice area page (1.6)
A complaints page names the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA, and says how and when to complain (2.1)
The SRA number and badge sit in a prominent place, not buried (4.1)
The badge loads on every page, and the domain is saved in mySRA
Emails and form replies carry the SRA number and the authorisation wording (4.2)
Prices on blog posts and landing pages match the cost pages (8.8)

Questions people ask

Do all solicitors have to publish prices on their website?

No. Rule 1.1 only applies to a firm that publishes, as part of its usual business, that it offers one of the services listed in rules 1.3 and 1.4. Publicly funded work is excluded by rule 1.2. Other practice areas aren't covered, though the SRA encourages firms to be clear about price anyway.

Where does the SRA digital badge go on a website?

Rule 4.1 says an authorised body must display its SRA number and the digital badge in a prominent place on its website. The rule doesn't name a page or position, so it's the firm's job to make sure visitors can see both.

Why isn't my SRA digital badge working?

The SRA says the badge only works with websites linked to a regulated firm's mySRA account. Check that your website address is recorded under your organisation's office details, then allow at least 24 hours before trying again. The SRA points to Yoshki for technical support.

Can a firm show an average price instead of a fixed fee?

Yes. Rule 1.5 allows the total cost or, where that isn't practicable, the average cost or a range of costs. The SRA's guidance says a firm can publish the typical cost of a service instead of the mathematical average of all its cases.

Do the Transparency Rules apply to a firm with no website?

Rule 3.1 says an authorised body without a website must make the information in rules 1 and 2 available on request. The SRA's guidance adds that people shouldn't have to give detailed information before they can get it.