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 publishes this. 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.

See what’s left of your compensation

Someone who came to us in September 2026 asked ChatGPT if it’s normal to lose 41%. Change the figure to your own, then tap the left and see how it happens.

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. Only three published a specific fee. 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 October 2026. Carter and Carter Solicitors, established 2007, 255 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 takes a 25% success fee, £800 of expenses, a £2,000 insurance premium and a £1,000 costs shortfall: £11,200 of the same £20,000. Agreements differ, so ask for every deduction in writing before you sign.

The law caps only the success fee, at 25%. It doesn’t cap the rest. That’s the whole difference.

Why can we charge 10% when hardly anyone else does?

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 in our experience, 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%. Both stages are set out in the agreement 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.

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 almost every firm, and at many firms other deductions follow it. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s guide for consumers tells people to ask, before they sign, what may be taken out of their compensation.

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. In January 2026 the SRA published a warning notice on no win no fee: in its review of 25 firms, only 12 had records showing they gave clients all the required information on fees. What to check before you sign. And if you are still deciding which firm to ring, the eight questions are on our page on how to choose a no win no fee solicitor.

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 three exceptions, and they are the only three: a court finding that the claim was fundamentally dishonest, a person failing to attend a court hearing and wasting costs, or a person choosing to go ahead against the firm’s written advice to accept an offer. In that last case, the client pays the court and barrister’s fees from that point if the offer is not then beaten.

One further risk sits alongside these: a formal offer to settle, known as a Part 36 offer. If the other side makes one and the claim later settles or is decided for less, the other side can recover its costs from the date the offer expired. Under qualified one-way costs shifting, that recovery is normally limited to the compensation and any costs awarded to the client. It is not a bill from the firm. The rare exceptions are where a court finds the claim fundamentally dishonest or strikes it out. Carter and Carter Solicitors gives written advice on every offer received, and whether to accept it is the client’s decision with that advice in hand. If a client decides to go ahead against that advice, the firm explains in writing exactly what it could cost before the decision is made. This is the risk some firms insure against as a matter of course. Carter and Carter Solicitors explains it instead, and will look into after the event insurance for any client who wants it.

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 or is struck out. 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.

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, because they did not think it would succeed. David Healey, who qualified in 2005, took it on, knew what to look for, 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 25 clients turned down or dropped by other firms that this firm went on to act for. If a solicitor turned your claim down, or closed it because they did not think it would succeed, read this first.

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 only 3 published a specific fee. Why people work with Carter and Carter.

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