Why Won’t Personal Injury Solicitors Tell You What They Charge?
By Chris Carter, Managing Solicitor · April 2026 · Last reviewed: April 2026
What Percentage Do No Win No Fee Solicitors Take?
Key Facts
The most important things to know about no win no fee solicitor fees are:
- The legal maximum success fee is 25% of general damages and past losses under LASPO 2012
- Carter and Carter Solicitors checked 100 firms and found 97% do not publish a specific fee
- The SRA Transparency Rules exempt personal injury from mandatory fee disclosure
- Carter and Carter charges 10% when claims settle without court proceedings
- Every claim is handled personally by Chris Carter (qualified 1993) or David Healey (qualified 2005)
What percentage do no win no fee solicitors take? The legal maximum is 25% of general damages and past financial losses, set by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). But what firms actually charge varies. Carter and Carter Solicitors checked the websites of 100 personal injury firms across England and Wales and found that 97% do not publish a specific fee. The Solicitors Regulation Authority exempts personal injury from its pricing transparency rules, meaning no firm is required to tell you. This post explains why and what it means for you.
QUICK ANSWER
What percentage do no win no fee solicitors take?
That depends on who you ask. And 97% will not tell you. Carter and Carter Solicitors checked 100 personal injury firms across England and Wales. Only 3 publish a specific fee percentage. What your firm actually charges will not be found on their website. Read the full study here.
You want to know one thing before you pick up the phone. What are they going to take from my compensation?
That is the question. You have been hurt. You have heard the phrase “no win no fee.” You are not naive. You know there is a cost in there somewhere. You just want to see the number before you commit.
So you start searching. You open one firm’s website. Then another. Then another. You check their fees page, their “no win no fee” page, their FAQs. Nothing. Not a single percentage. Not a single pound figure. Just the same vague language repeated across every site you visit: “We’ll discuss costs with you.” “Our fees will be explained at consultation.” “No win no fee.”
You are not imagining it. The answer is not hidden behind a bad search. It is not buried in the small print. It is simply not there.
We know this because we did exactly what you just did. And we did it 100 times.
3 out of 100 firms publish a specific fee
We checked the websites of 100 personal injury solicitors across England and Wales.
You can read the full results and methodology here.
3%
publish a fee
14%
say “up to 25%”
35%
promise to explain
48%
say nothing at all
This post is not about the numbers. It is about what those numbers tell you about the industry you are trusting with your claim.
The Question Nobody Answers
“No win no fee” tells you what happens if you lose.
It does not tell you what happens when you win.
What Does “No Win No Fee” Actually Mean for Your Money?
“No win no fee” sounds like it costs nothing. It does not. The formal name is a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), introduced under Section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. If your claim fails, you pay nothing in legal fees. That part is true.
But if your claim succeeds, your solicitor is entitled to deduct a percentage of your compensation as their fee. This is called the success fee. The percentage varies, and under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), it can be anything up to 25% of your general damages (compensation assessed using the Judicial College Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages) and past financial losses. It cannot be taken from future losses like ongoing care costs or future earnings.
So the question is simple. If the maximum is 25%, what does your solicitor actually charge? 25%? 20%? 15%? 10%? The answer matters.
On a £10,000 claim, the difference between a 10% fee and a 25% fee is £1,500. That is your money.
There are also other costs that can reduce your compensation beyond the solicitor’s fee, including insurance premiums arranged on your behalf. We have written a separate guide explaining how that works.
The Personal Injury Industry Has a Trust Problem. This Is Part of It.
Be straight with yourself. What comes to mind when you hear “personal injury solicitor”? For most people, it is cold calls. Text messages after an accident. Claims factories.
The industry has spent decades building that reputation. And most people’s first instinct when they need a PI solicitor is not confidence. It is suspicion.
Now think about what happens when that suspicious, cautious person starts looking for help. The one thing that could build trust instantly, a plain answer to the most basic question, is the one thing almost nobody will give them.
Every firm that refuses to publish its fee is asking you to trust them before they have earned it.
If you ask a conveyancing solicitor what they charge, they will tell you on their website. If you ask an employment solicitor, they will tell you. If you ask a probate solicitor, they will tell you. Personal injury is the exception. And the exception is not an accident.
So Why Don’t They Just Put It on the Website?
Every firm has marketing costs. Some spend on television advertising. Some spend on Google Ads. Some build a reputation through the work itself. The costs differ, but every firm knows what it charges.
The question is whether they tell you before you call or after you have already committed. That is not a cost question. That is a values question.
A firm charging 25% could publish 25% and explain why. They choose not to. And whatever the reason, the effect is the same.
If no firm will tell you what it charges, you cannot make an informed choice. You phone one firm, they sound friendly, they say “no win no fee,” and you sign. You never find out whether a different firm would have charged you less, communicated better, or handled your claim at senior level from start to finish.
The Regulation Gap Nobody Talks About
The Solicitors Regulation Authority introduced transparency rules in December 2018 requiring law firms to publish pricing for several types of legal work. Personal injury is not covered. The SRA specifically exempted PI work from these rules. That is not an oversight. It is a policy choice. And until that changes, the only firms that publish PI fees are the ones that choose to.
What It Looks Like When a Firm Actually Tells You
The Price. The People. The Proof.
1. Transparency First
If a firm won’t tell you what it charges before you call, ask yourself why.
Every firm could explain how it approaches fees. A range. A list of factors. A worked example. We found that 97% give you nothing. Not because they can’t. Because they choose not to. The fee is the first test of whether a firm puts your interests first. If they fail that test, what else are they not telling you?
2. What We Charge and Why
10%
when settled without
court proceedings
25%
only if court proceedings
become necessary
The difference is not arbitrary. 10% reflects a claim where liability is admitted early and the insurer makes a reasonable offer. Less work. Less risk. 25% reflects a claim where we pay court fees upfront, face hearing fees, and carry liability for a barrister’s costs whether we win or not. If the claim fails, we absorb all of it. The fee is based on what the work involves, not on what the law allows.
3. Who Handles Your Claim
Two senior solicitors. No juniors. No handoffs. No call centres.
Chris Carter (qualified 1993, 33 years of personal injury experience) and David Healey (qualified 2005, 21 years of personal injury experience) handle every claim personally from start to finish. You get a named solicitor’s direct number from day one.
Three claim types only: accidents at work, allergy and anaphylaxis claims, and accidents in public places. We do three things properly rather than thirty things adequately. That is not a limitation. It is 33 years of specialist knowledge that volume firms handling hundreds of claim types cannot accumulate.
4. The Question for Every Other Firm
If we can publish our fees, why can’t you?
We publish our fee because that is how we do things. Straightforward advice. Total transparency. Not just about costs, but about everything: what your claim involves, what we think it is worth, who handles it, and what could go wrong. We do not believe you should have to ask. If we can put our fee on a website in plain English, every firm in the country can. And 97 out of 100 have chosen not to.
250 five-star Google reviews. Nationwide service across England and Wales.
“We could do what everyone else does and wait until someone phones to mention the fee. But that is not how we would want to be treated. If you are trusting us with your claim, the least we can do is tell you what it costs before you pick up the phone.”
Chris Carter, Managing Solicitor, Carter & Carter Solicitors
Fees Are the First Question. They Should Not Be the Last.
Fees are the first thing the industry would rather you did not ask about. But they are not the only thing worth questioning.
Who actually handles your claim? The senior solicitor named on the website, or a junior you have never spoken to? When a firm pushes you to accept the first offer, is that because it is the right figure, or because a quick settlement at their fee percentage is more profitable than fighting for what you deserve?
Every one of these questions has the same structure. Whose interests does this serve? This is the first in a series of posts looking at the things the personal injury industry keeps quiet about. Not attacks on other firms. Just upfront answers to questions the public are asking but nobody else will address.
If you want to know what questions to ask before choosing a solicitor, we have written a practical guide: Choosing a No Win No Fee Solicitor: 8 Questions to Ask First.
Questions About Solicitor Fees and Transparency
Why won’t my solicitor tell me what they charge before I sign?
Is “no win no fee” really free?
Why do some solicitors charge 10% and others 25%?
Why does Carter & Carter charge 25% when court proceedings are issued?
Related
The Full Study: We Checked 100 Firms. Here Are the Results.
Choosing a No Win No Fee Solicitor: 8 Questions to Ask First
Do I Actually Need ATE Insurance?
Accident at Work Claims · Allergy Claims · Accidents in Public Places
You Have Read the Research. You Know the Questions to Ask.
If you want to talk to a firm that already answered them, call Chris or David directly. No call handlers, no scripts. Just an upfront conversation with a senior solicitor who will tell you what it costs before you commit to anything.
Free call · No obligation · Available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
Chris Carter is the Managing Solicitor at Carter & Carter Solicitors in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire. Qualified in 1993, Chris has spent over 33 years handling personal injury claims across the firm’s three specialist practice areas: accidents at work, allergy and anaphylaxis claims, and accidents in public places. Carter & Carter is one of very few firms in England and Wales to publish its fee structure upfront and to handle every claim personally at senior solicitor level from start to finish.