No win no fee agreements: what to check before you sign

The two kinds of agreement behind the slogan

"No win, no fee" is marketing, not a legal term. Behind it sits one of two regulated agreement types, and it matters which one you are being offered:

• Conditional fee agreement (CFA): the solicitor charges nothing (or a reduced fee) if you lose, and their normal fee plus a success fee if you win. The law requires a CFA to be in writing, and the success fee must be stated as a percentage uplift on the normal fee, capped at 100% of it (Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, section 58, and the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013). Since 2013 the success fee comes out of your pocket, usually your damages, not from the losing side.
• Damages-based agreement (DBA): the solicitor takes an agreed percentage of whatever you recover, and nothing if you recover nothing. The Damages-Based Agreements Regulations 2013 cap that payment, including VAT.

Whichever type it is, ask the firm to name it, show you the caps that apply, and give you a worked example in pounds on a realistic outcome for your claim.

The caps on what can be taken from your compensation

• Personal injury under a CFA: at first instance the success fee cannot exceed 25% of your general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity plus your past financial losses (net of any state benefits to be repaid). Damages for future losses, such as future care, are protected from the success fee.
• Personal injury under a DBA: the payment, including VAT, is capped at 25% of the same protected pot at first instance.
• Employment matters under a DBA: capped at 35% of the sums you recover, including VAT (regulation 7 of the 2013 Regulations).
• Most other claims under a DBA: capped at 50% of the sums recovered, including VAT, at first instance.

Two things the caps do not cover. First, disbursements: court fees, medical or expert reports and similar expenses are usually extra. Second, an after the event insurance premium, if you take that cover, is normally deducted from your damages on top of the capped fee. A "25%" headline can therefore understate the total deduction; ask for the all-in figure.

What a losing client can still have to pay

"No fee" refers to the solicitor's own charge. On a loss, depending on the agreement and the case, you can still face:

• Disbursements the firm paid out on your behalf, unless the agreement says the firm absorbs them or insurance covers them.
• The other side's costs in some cases. In personal injury claims, qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS, Civil Procedure Rules 44.13 to 44.16) generally protects a losing claimant: a costs order against you normally cannot be enforced beyond any damages you were awarded, so an honest claimant who loses outright usually pays nothing to the defendant. That protection has exceptions, including claims struck out as an abuse of process and findings of fundamental dishonesty, and it applies to personal injury, not to every claim type.
• An excess or unpaid premium under an after the event insurance policy.

The right question is not "is it no win no fee?" but "if I lose, list everything I could have to pay, and who covers each item." A firm doing this properly will answer in writing without being chased; the SRA's January 2026 warning notice expressly requires firms to make sure clients understand both sides of the bargain before signing.

Your cancellation rights

Most no win no fee agreements are signed online, by post or at home. For a consumer that normally makes the contract a distance or off-premises contract under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which means a 14 day right to cancel without giving a reason (regulations 29 and 30). The firm must tell you about that right; if it does not, the cancellation period can extend by up to 12 months. If you ask the firm to start work within the 14 days, you can be charged for the work done before you cancel, so the right is most valuable if you act quickly after second thoughts.

After the 14 days, read the termination clauses before ending the agreement: many CFAs make you liable for the firm's fees to date if you end it without good reason, which can turn "no win, no fee" into "no win, fee anyway".

The checklist before you sign

• Which agreement type is it, CFA or DBA, and what exact percentage applies? Is it within the legal caps above?
• A worked example in pounds: "if I am awarded 20,000 pounds, show me every deduction and my net figure."
• The loss column: everything you could pay if the claim fails, item by item.
• Insurance: is after the event cover included, what does the premium cost, and when is it payable?
• Termination: what do you owe if you end the agreement, and what happens if the firm ends it?
• Who you are dealing with: if you were contacted by a claims company or a marketing website, ask which regulated firm will actually run your claim, and check that firm is genuine on the SRA register before signing anything. The SRA's mass claims guidance warns about exactly this handover.

If it has already gone wrong

If deductions from your settlement do not match what you were told, ask for a full breakdown in writing first: under the SRA Accounts Rules you are entitled to written notification of costs before they are taken, and the guide to solicitors holding your money covers those rules. If the figures still do not add up, or the risks were never explained, that is a complaint: the firm first, then the Legal Ombudsman for an eligible complaint, free for consumers, normally within one year of the problem (or of when you should reasonably have known about it) and six months of the firm's final response. Disputes about the size of a bill itself are covered in the guide to challenging a solicitor's bill.

Quick answers

Before your next move

A firm's website tells you something before you ever speak to it. You can check any firm's website free to see whether it publishes the price information and complaints information the SRA expects, and the legitimacy guide covers the five free checks that catch cloned and fake firms.

This guide is general information for England and Wales, not legal advice about any specific agreement or firm. Website findings are automated, come from public pages only, and are not a legal opinion.