What a law firm website must show under the SRA Transparency Rules: a checklist and a check of 28 firm sites

Research note. Rules checked on 27 September 2026 against the version of the SRA Transparency Rules in effect from 11 April 2025. On the same day we ran an automated check of 28 firm websites taken from Google UK results.

Author: Code-Site.Art, a web studio based in Kyiv, Ukraine. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. The rule text below is quoted from the SRA; the reading of what it means for a website is ours. Your COLP or compliance adviser has the final word.

1. The rules, and what each one means for the website

Source for every row: SRA Transparency Rules [1].

2. Which services need published prices

Rule 1.1 applies when a firm publishes, as part of its usual business, the availability of any of these services [1].

For individuals (rule 1.3):

1. Residential conveyancing: freehold or leasehold sales or purchases, mortgages or re-mortgages.
2. Probate: collecting and distributing the assets of a person who has died, where the assets are in the UK and the matter is not contested.
3. Immigration applications, excluding asylum.
4. Advice and representation at the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) on appeals against Home Office visa or immigration decisions, excluding asylum appeals.
5. Advice and representation at the Magistrates' Court on summary-only road traffic offences dealt with at a single hearing.
6. Advice and representation for employees bringing Employment Tribunal claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal.

For businesses (rule 1.4):

1. Advice and representation for employers defending Employment Tribunal claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal.
2. Debt recovery up to £100,000.
3. Licensing applications for business premises.

Rule 1.2 excludes publicly funded work.

3. What the price page must contain

Rule 1.5 lists seven elements [1]:

1. The total cost of the service or, where that is not practicable, the average cost or a range of costs.
2. The basis for the charges, including any hourly rates or fixed fees.
3. The experience and qualifications of anyone carrying out the work, and of their supervisors.
4. A description and the cost of any likely disbursements. Where the actual cost is not known, the average cost or a range.
5. Whether fees or disbursements attract VAT and, if so, how much.
6. What the price includes: key stages of the matter, likely timescales for each stage, and anything a client might reasonably expect to be included but is not.
7. If the firm uses conditional fee or damages-based agreements, when clients may have to pay themselves, including from damages.

Rule 1.6 adds that this information must be "clear and accessible and in a prominent place on your website".

What this means for the build. A single "Our fees" PDF buried in the footer is hard to defend as prominent. A structure that works is one price section per listed service, linked from the matching service page. Each section should have the same seven blocks, so fee earners can update the figures without touching the layout.

4. Complaints: the "how and when"

Rule 2.1 requires the site to explain how and when a client can complain to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA [1]. The "when" comes from the Legal Ombudsman's own time limits [2]:

Under Scheme Rule 4.4, the six-month limit applies only if the firm's written response to the complaint included prominently an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman was available, its full contact details, and a warning that the complaint must be referred within six months [3]. The website's complaints page and the final-response letter template should say the same thing.

5. SRA number and digital badge

• Rule 4.1: an authorised body must display its SRA number and the SRA's digital badge "in a prominent place on its website" [1].
• The badge became mandatory on 25 November 2019. It is supplied by the SRA's development partner Yoshki as software, not as an image file. It only works on websites linked to the firm's mySRA account [4].

What this means for the build. Put the badge code and the SRA number in the site-wide footer so they appear on every page. When the site moves to a new domain, register the new address in mySRA before launch, or the badge stops displaying.

6. A check of 28 firm websites

6.1. Method

• Sample. Google UK, English interface, no personalisation, 27 September 2026. Queries: "conveyancing solicitors manchester", "family solicitors leeds", "employment solicitors birmingham", "probate solicitors bristol". We took law firm sites from the organic results and excluded directories, review sites, calculators and forums. That gave 31 firm sites. Two did not load (HTTP 403 and a redirect loop). One site had no reference to the SRA at all and may not be an SRA-regulated firm, so we left it out. That leaves 28.

What we looked for:

• the Yoshki badge code in the homepage HTML;
• an SRA number, meaning 5–7 digits within 120 characters of "SRA" or "Solicitors Regulation Authority" in the homepage text;
• a link to a complaints page from the homepage, and whether that page mentions the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA;
• a link from the homepage whose text or address mentions prices, fees or costs.

Limits.

• The check reads raw HTML. A badge injected by a tag manager, or a number shown only as an image, is invisible to it.
• It looks at the homepage and one complaints page, not the whole site.
• A price link does not show that the page meets rule 1.5.
• We do not name the firms. This is a snapshot, not a league table.

6.2. Results

6.3. What stands out

• The badge is the most common element (23 of 28). Badge and number together appear on 15.
• The Legal Ombudsman is the most common gap on complaints pages. 25 firms link to a complaints page, but only 19 of those pages mention the Legal Ombudsman. Rule 2.1 asks for exactly that.
• Price links are missing on 10 of 28 homepages. The rule does not require a homepage link, only prominence. But every firm in the sample was found for conveyancing, family, employment or probate queries, and three of those four areas include rule 1.3 services.

7. A website brief for a firm, in nine lines

This section is our recommendation, based on the rules above.

1. Site-wide footer: firm name, SRA number, digital badge code, a link to the complaints page and a link to prices.
2. One price section for each listed service the firm offers, with all seven rule 1.5 elements in the same order.
3. Named fee earners and supervisors on each price section, with qualifications and years of experience (rule 1.5, item 3).
4. Disbursements with real ranges: search fees, Land Registry fees, Stamp Duty Land Tax, the probate application fee.
5. VAT stated separately for fees and disbursements.
6. Key stages and timescales per service, including what is not included.
7. A complaints page that explains the firm's process, the eight-week period, and the Legal Ombudsman and SRA routes with the six-month and one-year limits.
8. The same wording in the final-response letter template.
9. A mySRA domain check in the launch checklist.

8. About the author

Code-Site.Art builds websites for professional services firms. Our page on websites for law firms shows how we build the compliance blocks above into a firm's site. Our practical guide to websites for solicitors covers practice-area structure and enquiry flows.

Sources

All pages accessed 27 September 2026.

1. Solicitors Regulation Authority. SRA Transparency Rules, version in effect from 11 April 2025. https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/transparency-rules/
2. Legal Ombudsman. FAQs for consumers. https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/for-consumers/faqs/
3. Legal Ombudsman. Guidance: Scheme Rules (Scheme Rule 4.4). https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/for-legal-service-providers/learning-resources/guidance-scheme-rules/
4. Solicitors Regulation Authority. SRA digital badge. https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/resources/fees/clickable-logo