# Do the SRA Transparency Rules apply to this service? Five questions and what the page must say > Five questions on the service, its limits, how it is paid for, the website and conditional fees, leading to one of eight outcomes with the SRA rule behind each. - Page to cite: https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/do-sra-transparency-rules-apply-to-this-service-price-page-questions/ - Publisher: AEO Lookup (https://aeolookup.com/) - Section: Solicitors, SRA, AML and transparency - Published 2 October 2026 - Key fact: We wrote this questionnaire of 5 questions and 8 outcomes from the rules set out in 3 of our guides and the sources each outcome names. Four of the eight outcomes end with no price information to publish: an unlisted service, work beyond a listed service's limit, publicly funded work and a service the firm does not advertise. The website question is reached only after three answers have shown that rule 1.1 applies. - Sources: SRA Transparency Rules 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1 and 4.1 (in force from 11 April 2025) and SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors 8.7, read 2 October 2026; SRA Transparency Rules 1.3 and 1.4 (in force from 11 April 2025), read 2 October 2026; SRA Transparency Rules 1.1 and 1.2 (in force from 11 April 2025), read 2 October 2026; SRA Transparency Rules 1.1 (in force from 11 April 2025) and SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors 8.7, read 2 October 2026; SRA Transparency Rules 3.1 and 4.2 (in force from 11 April 2025); SRA guidance, Transparency in price and service (updated 30 September 2024); read 2 October 2026; SRA Transparency Rules 1.5(g) (in force from 11 April 2025); SRA guidance, Transparency in price and service (updated 30 September 2024); read 2 October 2026; SRA Transparency Rules 1.5 and 1.6 (in force from 11 April 2025); SRA guidance, Transparency in price and service (updated 30 September 2024); read 2 October 2026; each outcome names its source, and the linked guide shows the working. A firm adds a service to its website, or a partner asks whether the debt recovery page needs prices on it. The SRA Transparency Rules settle that in three steps: is the service one of the nine listed, does the work stay inside the limit the rule sets, and does the firm advertise it to clients who pay privately. This questionnaire asks each in turn, then asks about the website and conditional fees, and gives one of eight outcomes with the rule behind it. It follows the edition of the rules in force from 11 April 2025 and the SRA's guidance on price and service, both read on 2 October 2026. Nothing you choose leaves the page. **Free tool on the page:** SRA Transparency Rules: does this service need a price page. It runs in the browser at https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/do-sra-transparency-rules-apply-to-this-service-price-page-questions/#tool and asks for no sign-up. ## The questions, and why each is asked **1. Which kind of work is the service you want to check?** Rules 1.3 and 1.4 of the SRA Transparency Rules list six services for individuals and three for businesses. Nothing outside those nine needs published prices. **2. Does the work stay inside the limit the rule sets for that service?** The rules catch only sales, purchases and mortgages of homes; uncontested estates with every asset in the UK; immigration other than asylum; unfair or wrongful dismissal claims; summary-only motoring at a single hearing; debts up to £100,000; and business premises licences. This question appears only when an earlier answer makes it relevant. **3. Does the firm advertise this service, and do clients pay for it privately?** Rule 1.1 applies to a firm that publishes, as part of its usual business, that the service is available. Rule 1.2 takes publicly funded work out of it. This question appears only when an earlier answer makes it relevant. **4. Does the firm have a website?** Rule 1.1 puts the costs information on the website. Rule 3.1 says a firm with no website must make the same information available on request. This question appears only when an earlier answer makes it relevant. **5. Is this work ever taken on a conditional fee (no win, no fee) or damages-based agreement?** Rule 1.5 has seven items. The seventh, item (g), applies only to a firm that uses conditional fee or damages-based agreements: it must say when clients may have to pay. This question appears only when an earlier answer makes it relevant. ## Every outcome, and the rule behind it ### No price page is required for this service Reached when: "Which kind of work is the service you want to check?" answered "Something else: family, wills, commercial property, litigation". Rule 1.1 of the SRA Transparency Rules applies only to the six services for individuals in rule 1.3 and the three for businesses in rule 1.4. Family work, wills, commercial property and general litigation are not among them. Three duties remain whatever the firm does: rule 2.1 puts the complaints procedure on the website, rule 4.1 the SRA number and the digital badge, and paragraph 8.7 of the Code of Conduct requires the best possible information on price for each client. - Check the website carries the complaints procedure, with how and when to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA. - Check the SRA number and the clickable digital badge are in a prominent place on the site. - Put the price and the likely overall cost in the client care letter for each matter. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1 and 4.1 (in force from 11 April 2025) and SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors 8.7, read 2 October 2026. The working is in [Client care letter and file-opening checklist](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/client-care-letter-checklist-new-matter/). ### The work falls outside the listed service, so rule 1.1 does not reach it Reached when: "Does the work stay inside the limit the rule sets for that service?" answered "No: contested, asylum, a debt over £100,000 or similar". Each listed service in the SRA Transparency Rules has an edge. Probate is caught only where the estate is uncontested and every asset is in the UK; immigration excludes asylum; employment work means unfair or wrongful dismissal claims; motoring means summary-only offences dealt with at a single hearing; debt recovery stops at £100,000. Work beyond those edges needs no published price under rule 1.5. If the firm also advertises the version that is inside the limit, that version does need one. - Say on the page which work the published price covers and which it does not. - Give the client the price for the unlisted work in the client care letter, as paragraph 8.7 of the Code requires. - Run the questionnaire again for the version of the service that is inside the limit. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 1.3 and 1.4 (in force from 11 April 2025), read 2 October 2026. The working is in [SRA transparency rules](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/sra-transparency-rules-price-information-what-to-publish/). ### Publicly funded work is outside rule 1.1 Reached when: "Does the firm advertise this service, and do clients pay for it privately?" answered "We do it only as publicly funded (legal aid) work". Rule 1.2 of the SRA Transparency Rules says rule 1.1 does not apply to publicly funded work, so a firm that does a listed service only under legal aid has no costs information to publish for it. The exemption follows the funding, not the firm. If the same service is also advertised to clients who pay privately, the items in rule 1.5 are needed for the private work. - Check whether the website also offers the service to clients who pay privately. - If it does, publish the rule 1.5 items for the private work and say the price does not apply to legal aid. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 1.1 and 1.2 (in force from 11 April 2025), read 2 October 2026. The working is in [SRA transparency rules](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/sra-transparency-rules-price-information-what-to-publish/). ### Rule 1.1 bites only on a service the firm publishes as available Reached when: "Does the firm advertise this service, and do clients pay for it privately?" answered "We do not advertise it; it is an occasional matter". Rule 1.1 of the SRA Transparency Rules applies to a firm that publishes, as part of its usual business, the availability of a listed service. A firm that takes an occasional matter of this kind without advertising it has nothing to publish under rule 1.5. The test is what the firm says it does: a line on the website naming the service puts it inside the rule. The client still gets the best possible information on price under paragraph 8.7 of the Code of Conduct. - Search the firm's website, directory entries and adverts for any mention of the service. - If the service is named anywhere, treat rule 1.1 as applying and publish the rule 1.5 items. - Set out the price and likely overall cost in the client care letter for the occasional matter. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 1.1 (in force from 11 April 2025) and SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors 8.7, read 2 October 2026. The working is in [Client care letter and file-opening checklist](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/client-care-letter-checklist-new-matter/). ### No website: the same information must be available on request Reached when: "Does the firm have a website?" answered "No website". Rule 3.1 of the SRA Transparency Rules says a firm without a website must make the information in rules 1 and 2 available on request: the costs information for each listed service and the complaints procedure. The SRA's guidance, updated 30 September 2024, adds that people should not have to give detailed information before they can obtain it. Rule 4.2 still requires the letterhead and emails to show the SRA number and the words "authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority". - Write the rule 1.5 items for the service as a one-page sheet that can be emailed or posted the same day. - Include item (g), when the client may have to pay, if the work is done on a conditional fee. - Check the letterhead and the email footer carry the SRA number and the regulated wording. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 3.1 and 4.2 (in force from 11 April 2025); SRA guidance, Transparency in price and service (updated 30 September 2024); read 2 October 2026. The working is in [SRA transparency rules](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/sra-transparency-rules-price-information-what-to-publish/). ### Publish all seven items of rule 1.5, including when the client pays Reached when: "Is this work ever taken on a conditional fee (no win, no fee) or damages-based agreement?" answered "Yes, for some or all clients". The service is listed, advertised and privately paid, so rule 1.5 of the SRA Transparency Rules applies in full. Item (g) is the one that depends on funding: a firm that uses conditional fee or damages-based agreements must set out the circumstances in which clients may have to make payments themselves, including from any damages. The SRA's guidance, updated 30 September 2024, says the legal detail of the agreement need not be on the website, and that the time spent assessing a case before accepting it should be stated. - Add a plain paragraph on the circumstances in which a client pays, including out of any damages. - State how long the firm takes to assess a case before accepting it, and what that costs the client. - Check the other six items: total, basis, who does the work, disbursements, VAT, stages and timescales. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 1.5(g) (in force from 11 April 2025); SRA guidance, Transparency in price and service (updated 30 September 2024); read 2 October 2026. The working is in [SRA transparency rules](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/sra-transparency-rules-price-information-what-to-publish/). ### Publish six items; the disbursements belong in the conveyancing total Reached when: "Which kind of work is the service you want to check?" answered "Residential conveyancing for an individual". The service is listed and advertised and no conditional fee is used, so items (a) to (f) of rule 1.5 of the SRA Transparency Rules apply: the total cost or a range, the basis of the charges, the experience and qualifications of the people doing the work and of their supervisors, likely disbursements, VAT, and what is included with key stages and timescales. For conveyancing the SRA's guidance, updated 30 September 2024, says disbursements other than Stamp Duty Land Tax or Land Transaction Tax should be in the total quoted. - Put the Land Registry fee and the search fees inside the quoted total, each with its amount. - Say that Stamp Duty Land Tax or Land Transaction Tax is extra, and where the client can work it out. - Name who does the work and who supervises it, with their experience and qualifications. - If the site has a quote tool, check it gives the figure without a call from the firm first. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 1.5 and 1.6 (in force from 11 April 2025); SRA guidance, Transparency in price and service (updated 30 September 2024); read 2 October 2026. The working is in [Land Registry fees in 2026](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/land-registry-fees-2026-purchase-remortgage-completion-statement/). ### Publish six items of rule 1.5 in a prominent place on the website Reached when: any other set of answers. The service is listed, advertised and privately paid, and no conditional fee is used, so items (a) to (f) of rule 1.5 of the SRA Transparency Rules apply: the total cost or, where that is not practicable, an average or a range; the basis of the charges; the experience and qualifications of those doing the work and of their supervisors; likely disbursements with their cost; whether VAT applies and how much; and what is included, with key stages and timescales. Rule 1.6 requires the information to be clear, accessible and prominent. - Check each of the six items against the page for this service and note the date of the check. - State the VAT as a percentage or an amount, or say on the site that the firm is not VAT registered. - List anything a client might expect to be included that is not, such as enforcing a debt judgment. Source: SRA Transparency Rules 1.5 and 1.6 (in force from 11 April 2025); SRA guidance, Transparency in price and service (updated 30 September 2024); read 2 October 2026. The working is in [SRA transparency rules](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/sra-transparency-rules-price-information-what-to-publish/). ## How to use the result Run it once for each service the firm names on its website, not once for the firm. Where the outcome is a list of items, open the page for that service and tick each item against it; the COLP should own the result and note the date. Where the outcome says no price page is needed, the complaints procedure, the SRA number and the digital badge still have to be on the site. Run it again when the firm adds a service, starts taking work on a conditional fee or changes how a price is built. The outcome applies the rule to the answers given; it cannot see the facts behind them. Where an answer is a judgement, or the facts are unusual, the outcome may not fit. A supervising solicitor reviews and signs anything a tool drafts, and this page is general information, not legal advice. Overlyft ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/ours-badge.png) sets up AI assistants for solicitors: they prepare drafts for a person to approve. None of these outcomes depends on them. --- ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/owner-line.png) General information for UK small firms, not legal, tax or financial advice.