The SRA Transparency Rules and your website: what to publish, where, and how to make it rank
What the SRA Transparency Rules require online, for which services, the badge and complaints information, and how to write it so it ranks.
By Daniel Stoychev, Webso Digital · 30 August 2026 · 8 min read
The SRA Transparency Rules require firms regulated by the SRA to publish price and service information on their website for certain services, to display the SRA digital badge, and to publish information about complaints. Most firms meet the rules with a PDF nobody opens. Written as readable pages, the same information answers the client's first question, ranks for the cost searches, and is what an AI engine quotes when asked what a service costs. This guide is what the rules ask for, in outline, and how we build it. It is a builder's summary, not legal advice: the rules and the SRA's guidance are the text to work from, and your COLP signs off the wording.
Which services
For individuals: residential conveyancing, uncontested probate where the assets are in the UK, motoring offences dealt with in the magistrates' court, immigration applications other than asylum, and employment tribunal claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal. For businesses: debt recovery up to a set value, employment tribunal defence, and licensing applications for business premises. If the firm offers any of these, the rules apply to that service; if the firm does not offer them, they do not, and the site should still say what the firm does do and how it charges.
What has to be published for each
- The total cost, or if that is not possible the average cost or a range, and the basis of charging (fixed fee, hourly rates and who charges them).
- The disbursements likely to be incurred, with amounts or a basis, and whether VAT applies to fees and to each disbursement.
- What the service includes, and what a client might reasonably expect that is not included.
- The key stages of the matter, and the typical timescales.
- The experience and qualifications of the people who carry out the work and supervise it.
The rules say the information must be clear, accessible and in a prominent place; they do not say it must be a PDF, and the SRA's own guidance encourages plain language. A page per service, reachable from the practice page and from the footer, meets the letter and the spirit.
The digital badge and the regulatory statement
The SRA digital badge, the clickable logo that confirms the firm is regulated, has to be displayed on the website. We place it in the footer of every page and on the practice pages for the regulated services, and it must be the live badge from the SRA, not a screenshot of it. Beside it, the regulatory statement: the firm's name, that it is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and the SRA number.
Complaints information
The rules require the website to say how a client can complain to the firm, that they can complain to the Legal Ombudsman with the time limits and contact details, and that they can raise concerns with the SRA. One page, in plain words, linked from the footer and from each fee page, satisfies this and reassures a client rather than alarming one.
Making it rank and making it answer
"How much does conveyancing cost", "probate solicitor fees", "how much does an employment tribunal claim cost": these are searched every day, and the firms that publish the information as pages rank for them, because the page answers the search. Written with the question in the first paragraph, the range and the basis in a table, the disbursements listed and the stages in order, the page is also exactly what ChatGPT and Google's AI quote when a client asks the same question. Compliance done properly is content.
| Element | As a PDF in the footer | As a page we build |
|---|---|---|
| Found by a client | Rarely | From the practice page and the footer |
| Ranks for the cost search | No | Yes, with the question in the first paragraph |
| Quoted by AI engines | No | Yes, when the figures and stages are in plain text |
| Kept current | Forgotten | Reviewed with the fee scale each year |
| COLP sign-off | Once | Dated copy kept, re-signed on change |
What we do and what we do not
We build the pages, place the badge and the statements, write the process and the stages in plain language from the fee earner's description, and lay out the figures the firm gives us in the format the rules describe. We keep a dated copy of each version. We do not decide the figures, we do not interpret the rules for the firm, and we do not replace the COLP: the firm confirms the content before it goes live and reviews it whenever the fee scale changes. The current text of the rules and the SRA's guidance are on the SRA's website and they, not this guide, are the reference.
A quick check for any firm: open your own site on a telephone and try to find, within a minute, what a residential purchase costs, who would handle it, and how to complain. If any of the three takes longer, a client gave up before you did.
Questions on this topic
Do the rules apply to firms not regulated by the SRA?
The SRA Transparency Rules apply to SRA-regulated firms. Firms regulated by the CLC or other regulators have their own transparency requirements, similar in intent. Check with your regulator; the website approach is the same.
Can we publish a range rather than a fixed fee?
Where a fixed fee is not possible, the rules allow an average or a range with the basis of charging. A range with the factors that move it, in plain words, is what clients read and what ranks.
Does the badge have to be on every page?
The rules require it to be displayed on the website; we place it on every page in the footer and on the regulated-service pages, using the SRA's live badge code. A screenshot of the badge does not count.
How often should the pages be reviewed?
Whenever the fee scale, the disbursements or the people change, and at least once a year. We keep a dated copy of each version and remind the firm at the anniversary.