No win no fee hidden costs: what will I actually get?
The 25% is the bit you know about. Almost no firm’s website will tell you whether anything else comes out after it, never mind how much.
We charge just 10% when your claim settles without court proceedings. Nothing else comes out. Hardly any firm works this way. We do, because it’s fair.
The seven things an agreement can take from a winning claim
In England and Wales a no win no fee agreement can allow every one of these to come out of your compensation. Every firm decides its own answer to each line.
1
A success fee
Up to 25% of your compensation for the injury and past losses. That is the legal cap, and it includes VAT.
With Carter and Carter
10% if your claim settles before court proceedings, 25% after. VAT included.
2
Expenses
Medical reports, court fees, expert reports. Some agreements take these from your compensation if the other side does not pay them.
With Carter and Carter
Paid by us as the claim runs and recovered from the other side. Nothing on a loss.
3
VAT
The law says the 25% cap includes VAT. A firm quoting 25% plus VAT is quoting more than the cap allows. Ask to see the figure with VAT in it.
With Carter and Carter
Included in both figures. Never added on top.
4
An insurance premium
Cover against paying the other side if you lose. Where a policy is taken out, the premium usually comes out of your compensation at the end. It can be a fixed sum or a percentage of your compensation, and it sits outside the 25% cap.
With Carter and Carter
Rarely. Only where the specific facts of your claim genuinely need it.
5
Commission on that insurance
The insurer may pay the firm a commission for arranging the policy. Some firms keep it.
With Carter and Carter
None. We take no commission on any policy.
6
A shortfall in the firm’s costs
The other side pays the solicitor’s normal fees when you win, but sometimes not every penny. Some agreements take the difference from your compensation, on top of the success fee. Nobody can tell you this figure in advance.
With Carter and Carter
Never asked for. The success fee is the only deduction.
7
Charges if you stop the claim
After the 14-day cooling-off period, many agreements let the firm bill for work done and expenses paid out if you end the claim.
With Carter and Carter
Our terms allow it. In nineteen years we have never charged anyone.
See what’s left of your compensation
Someone who came to us this month asked ChatGPT if it’s normal to lose 41%. Change the figure to your own, then tap the left and see how it happens.
What an agreement can allow
You keep
£20,000
100% of your compensation
The same claim with Carter and Carter
You keep
£18,000
10% before court proceedings. Nine in ten of our claims settle there.
tap to deduct
tap to deduct
tap to deduct
tap to deduct
On a £20,000 claim: a success fee at the 25% cap takes £5,000; unrecovered expenses about £800; an insurance premium of 10% of the damages, £2,000, as in an agreement seen by the firm in September 2026; a shortfall in the firm’s costs, which nobody can state in advance, say £1,000. That leaves £11,200. With Carter and Carter Solicitors: a 10% success fee, £2,000, and nothing else. You keep £18,000.
Illustrative. The success fee cap of 25% of compensation for the injury and past losses, VAT inclusive, is set by the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013. The success fee and the premium scale with your figure; expenses and the shortfall are fixed examples. The premium of 10% of damages is taken from an agreement seen by Carter and Carter Solicitors in September 2026; premiums vary and some are fixed sums. The shortfall is an example only: it is whatever the other side did not pay, and no firm can tell you the figure in advance.
No win no fee hidden costs, the short version
No win no fee means no bill if the claim fails.
In England and Wales a solicitor takes a share if the claim wins.
The law caps that share at 25%, and a firm can charge less.
Expenses, insurance and shortfalls can also come out, and the cap does not cover them.
Carter and Carter Solicitors publishes every deduction it makes, so nothing is hidden.
Carter and Carter Solicitors checked 94 personal injury firms’ websites in 2026. Ninety-one published no fee at all. The study, firm by firm.
What can come out of my compensation under a no win no fee agreement in England and Wales? Last updated September 2026. Carter and Carter Solicitors, established 2007, 251 five-star Google reviews, no win no fee since 2007, 0800 652 0586.
If I win £20,000, how much do I actually get?
With Carter and Carter Solicitors: £18,000 if your claim settles before court proceedings, £15,000 if proceedings are issued. Nothing else comes out.
Under an agreement that uses everything the law allows: as little as £11,200 of the same £20,000.
The law caps only the success fee, at 25%. It doesn’t cap the rest. That’s the whole difference.
We Act for Clients Across England and Wales
Based in Whaley Bridge on the edge of the Peak District, Carter & Carter handles personal injury claims for clients across England and Wales. Everything is done by phone, email and post. There’s no office for clients to visit, and you won’t need one. Call 0800 652 0586 to speak directly with Chris or David.
Why can we charge 10% when hardly anyone else does?
What isn’t in our overhead
Every one of these has to be paid for somewhere. At most firms, it’s out of the success fee.
Two solicitors. That’s the whole firm.
Nothing above to pay for, so nothing above to charge you for. That’s the 10%.
10%
Because there are two of us. No departments, no call centre, no offices in five cities. No television adverts, no paid Google listings, no claims companies to pay for sending us your name. Every one of those costs has to come from somewhere, and at most firms it comes out of the success fee. The work finds us the other way: people who’ve used us telling people who need us, and pages like this one. Low overhead is what makes 10% possible.
We also think it’s right. Getting a claim from the first letter to an admission without a fight is part of what you’re paying for, and valuing it properly takes care and experience whichever route it takes. But a claim that settles without court proceedings has still taken less of our time than one we have to issue, and we don’t think you should pay the same for both. A flat 25% makes the early settlement pay for the contested one, and that isn’t fair.
The 10% applies when your claim settles before we issue court proceedings, which about nine in ten of ours do. If we have to issue, the work roughly doubles and the fee rises to 25%, the most the law allows. You’ll know which applies before you sign, and both include VAT. The rate itself, with the cap and the calculator, is explained on our page what percentage do no win no fee solicitors take.
★★★★★
“Low fee as the other side admitted liability, and worth every penny.”
Steve Barnes, Google review
Is no win no fee really free?
No win no fee means no bill if the claim fails; it does not mean nothing comes out if the claim wins. The phrase describes the losing side of the agreement only. On the winning side, a success fee comes out of compensation at every firm, and at many firms other deductions follow it. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consumer guidance tells people to ask for a written breakdown of every deduction before signing, and to be wary of any firm that will not give one.
Carter and Carter Solicitors takes one deduction from a winning claim: the success fee, 10% where the claim settles before court proceedings and 25% where proceedings are issued, VAT included. No expenses, no premium, no shortfall, no commission. The deductions are the same for every client, and they are on this page before anyone rings. The SRA inspected 25 firms’ no win no fee practices in spring 2026; what it found, and what to check before you sign.
What happens if I lose?
A person who loses a no win no fee claim with Carter and Carter Solicitors pays nothing. The success fee is not charged, the firm’s own costs are written off, and the expenses the firm paid out during the claim are the firm’s loss, not the client’s. The agreement names two exceptions, and they are the only two: a court finding that the claim was fundamentally dishonest, or a person failing to attend a court hearing and wasting costs.
The other side’s costs are covered by the rules rather than by insurance. Under qualified one-way costs shifting (Civil Procedure Rules Part 44), an injured person who loses does not have to pay the defendant’s costs unless the claim was fundamentally dishonest. That protection is why Carter and Carter Solicitors does not require after the event insurance and absorbs the risk of losing itself. Do I actually need ATE insurance?
What if I decide to stop?
A person can cancel a no win no fee agreement within 14 days of signing, for any reason and at no charge, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. After that, most agreements, including this firm’s, allow the solicitor to bill for work already done and expenses already paid if the client ends the claim.
In practice: if someone dropped a claim Carter and Carter Solicitors had funded, for no good reason, leaving the firm with a barrister’s fee for a hearing they did not attend, the firm would consider a bill for it. In nineteen years it has never happened.
The whole thing, in five lines
Nothing complicated. That’s why it’s all here.
1. Our fee is 10% if your claim settles before court proceedings, 25% if we have to issue.
2. It comes off the money for your injury and what you’ve already lost. Never your future losses.
3. Nothing else comes out. No expenses, no VAT on top, no premium, no shortfall.
4. If the claim fails, you pay nothing. If you stop it, we’ve never charged anyone in nineteen years.
5. So if you win £10,000, you receive £9,000. If we’d had to issue, £7,500.
That’s it. Ring us.
0800 652 0586
What this looks like on a real file
Mr Bailey was injured at work in Kent. A national firm ran his claim for thirteen months and then closed it. David Healey, who qualified in 2005, took it on, found the evidence the first firm had missed, and settled it for £24,999 eight months later. He was told the fee on day one, and the deductions on his file were the ones on this page and no others.
He is one of 29 claims other firms turned down that this firm went on to win. If a firm has rejected or dropped your claim, read this first.
★★★★★
“I was charged only 10%. 100% recommended.”
Łukasz Włoczewski, Google review
Let Us Tell You What You’d Actually Keep
Find Out What You Would Actually Keep:
Every Deduction In Writing Before You Sign — Since 2007
No win, no fee — If we can’t help, we’ll say so on the phone
People also ask about no win no fee hidden costs
Do no win no fee solicitors charge VAT on top?
Are medical report fees taken out of my compensation?
Is 25% normal, or am I being overcharged?
Which part of my compensation is the 10% taken from?
What happens if I reject a settlement offer?
Questions about our fees
How do I know the 10% is real and not a headline?
Do I have to take out insurance?
What if the other side only pays part of your costs?
Can I switch to you if my current firm charges 25%?
Do I have to come to your office in Derbyshire?
Who actually runs my claim?
How do I start?
Carter and Carter Solicitors is a two-solicitor personal injury firm acting across England and Wales. The firm publishes its success fee as 10% where a claim settles without court proceedings and 25% where proceedings are issued, and lists every other deduction it does and does not make. Chris Carter, who qualified in 1993, and David Healey, who qualified in 2005, handle every claim from assessment to settlement. The firm’s 2026 study of 94 personal injury firms found 91 published no fee at all. Why people work with Carter and Carter.
Your solicitors
Chris Carter
Managing Solicitor · Qualified 1993
The question people ask me most on the phone is the one no website answers. So it’s answered here, in pounds, before you ring.
David Healey
Senior Solicitor · Qualified 2005
I’ll tell you what you’d keep before I tell you anything else. If the answer isn’t what you hoped, you’ll hear that too.
★★★★★
“There were NO hidden costs like I have heard about from other solicitors!!”
MsDanniielle, Google review
Had enough of lawyer promises?
Every deduction is on this page. If anything isn’t clear, ask us. You’ll have the answer before you decide anything.
You’re in Safe Hands. That’s Our Promise.
This page is general information about no win no fee agreements in England and Wales as of September 2026. Every claim is different. For advice on your own situation, call 0800 652 0586 and speak to Chris or David directly.