Digby Brown success fee: what 20% means for your payout
The remainder is your net award.
Say your claim settles for £10,000. On a £50,000 award, that same capped rate could take up to £10,000 out of your pocket.
- Gross compensation: £10,000
- Success fee at 20% (inclusive of VAT): £2,000
- Net amount you receive: £8,000
The exact figure a solicitor can charge is governed by statutory caps and the written agreement you sign, not by a flat headline rate, so it pays to check the maths against the law before you agree to anything.
Key Takeaways
A success fee is a statutorily capped percentage of your compensation, and the only way to guarantee you avoid it entirely is to choose a provider that charges none at all.
| Point |
Details |
| Statutory caps apply |
20% on the first £100,000, 10% up to £500,000, and 2.5% above that, all inclusive of VAT. |
| Written agreement is mandatory |
An SSFA must be in writing, and non-compliant terms can be unenforceable under the 2018 Act. |
| Cooling-off notice protects you |
You get a defined window to reconsider or compare offers after signing. |
| No win means no success fee |
QOCS generally protects claimants from the other side’s expenses if a claim fails honestly and reasonably. |
| Scotland Claims Injury Lawyers charges no success fee |
Clients keep 100% of compensation on successful whiplash, road traffic accident, workplace, and slip or trip claims. |
Table of Contents
How success fees are capped under Scottish law
Scottish solicitors cannot simply charge whatever success fee they like. The Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 (Success Fee Agreements) Regulations 2020 fixes maximum percentages, banded according to how much compensation you actually recover.
The statutory caps, inclusive of VAT, are:
- 20% on the first £100,000 of financial benefit
- 10% on the portion between £100,001 and £500,000
- 2.5% on anything above £500,000
Pro Tip: If your solicitor’s fee sits above these bands for any part of your award, ask them to explain why in writing. A properly drafted agreement should never need to.
“Financial benefit” means the total value you gain from the claim, generally the compensation you’re awarded, though certain expenses and future damages are treated separately (covered below).
These percentages are ceilings, not entitlements. A solicitor may charge less than the statutory maximum, and nothing stops them offering a lower rate or waiving the fee entirely, but they cannot legally charge more. Under section 6 of the 2018 Act, any success fee agreement that contravenes the statutory requirements is unenforceable to that extent, and the agreement must be in writing to be valid at all. That single requirement gives you real leverage: if a fee arrangement was never properly documented, you may not be liable to pay it.
What the Style Success Fee Agreement and cooling-off notice mean for you
The Law Society of Scotland publishes a Style Success Fee Agreement, generally referred to as the SSFA, alongside detailed guidance for solicitors on how to complete it. The template exists so every claimant across Scotland sees a comparable, standardised written offer rather than a patchwork of bespoke wording that’s difficult to compare between firms.
Alongside the SSFA sits a mandatory cooling-off notice. This gives you a defined window to walk away from the agreement after signing, without penalty, if you change your mind or want a second opinion. In practice, it means you’re never forced to commit to a solicitor on the spot. Take the paperwork home, read it properly, and compare it against another firm’s offer if you want to.
Before you sign, check the SSFA actually sets out:
- The exact percentage charged and which statutory band it applies to
- A plain description of the legal work covered by the fee
- What happens to the agreement if either side wants to terminate it early
- How recoverable expenses and disbursements are treated against your award
Pro Tip: Ask your solicitor to talk you through the SSFA line by line rather than just sign where indicated. The document is short by design, and reading it properly takes ten minutes at most.
If any of these items are missing or vague, that’s a fair reason to ask questions, or look elsewhere, before you commit.
How success fees are calculated: VAT, expenses, and future damages
The success fee percentage applies to the financial benefit you recover, and the quoted rate already includes VAT rather than having it added on top. A solicitor quoting “20%” should mean 20% total, not 20% plus VAT charged separately.
Recoverable expenses complicate the picture. When you win a claim, the losing party’s insurer often has to pay a contribution towards your legal expenses on top of your compensation. Whether your solicitor keeps that contribution or passes it to you depends entirely on what your agreement says, so this is a specific line to check rather than assume.
Future damages, compensation for ongoing costs like future loss of earnings or care needs, can also be included in the success fee calculation, but only under conditions set out in the regulations. One safeguard matters in particular: where a future element is paid as a lump sum of £1,000,000 or less, it can generally be included without additional independent oversight. Above that threshold, further checks apply, reflecting how much larger sums warrant closer scrutiny.
A worked example, using the statutory caps:
- Gross compensation awarded: £120,000
- Success fee: 20% on the first £100,000 (£20,000) plus 10% on the remaining £20,000 (£2,000) = £22,000 total
- Net compensation to you: £98,000
The banding exists precisely to stop larger awards being eroded at the same rate as smaller ones.
What happens if your claim is unsuccessful
If your personal injury claim doesn’t succeed, you shouldn’t be left paying your solicitor’s success fee. The whole point of a no win no fee agreement is that the fee is only ever payable out of compensation you actually receive; lose the case, and there’s no compensation to take a percentage from.
Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting, commonly known as QOCS, adds a further layer of protection. It generally shields claimants from having to pay the other side’s legal expenses if a personal injury claim is unsuccessful, provided the claim was conducted honestly and reasonably.
That protection isn’t absolute, though. QOCS can be lost in limited circumstances, such as if a claim is found to be fraudulent, an abuse of process, or conducted in a manner the court considers unreasonable.
- Check what your SSFA says about termination if you or your solicitor end the agreement early
- Ask whether any disbursements or outlays (rather than the success fee itself) could still fall to you
- Confirm in writing what “unsuccessful” means under your specific agreement
Checklist: questions to ask before you sign
A few direct questions at the outset save a lot of confusion later. Before signing any success fee agreement, work through this list with whoever is representing you.
- What percentage applies to each statutory band, and is that figure inclusive of VAT?
- Will recoverable expenses be retained by the firm, offset against your award, or paid to you separately?
- If After the Event insurance is involved, will the premium be deducted from your compensation, and how much is it?
- Can you have a written worked example showing likely gross award, deductions, and net compensation?
- What are the termination terms if either party ends the agreement before the claim concludes?
Pro Tip: Insist on a written worked example before you sign anything. A solicitor confident in their fee structure will produce one without hesitation, and it’s the fastest way to see the real cash effect of any percentage they quote.
Requesting a copy of the SSFA and cooling-off notice in advance, rather than at the signing table, gives you time to actually read them.
Why a zero success fee guarantee matters
Every calculation above assumes a percentage gets deducted somewhere.
Run the arithmetic on a £30,000 settlement.
That £6,000 difference on a mid-sized settlement isn’t a rounding error. It is the gap between a standard no win no fee arrangement and one where the client keeps every penny awarded.
- No success fee charged on whiplash, road traffic accident, workplace, or slip and trip claims
- Nothing deducted from your compensation regardless of settlement size
- Verification and claim details available through our own claims pages
How Scotland Claims Injury Lawyers can help you keep every penny
If the calculations above have made one thing obvious, it’s that a success fee, even a lawful one within the statutory caps, still shrinks your final payout.
The process starts with a free case assessment, either by phone or through an online form, covering road traffic accidents, workplace injuries, and slips or trips. Have your accident date, any correspondence from insurers, and a rough outline of your injuries ready when you get in touch. You can also run your own numbers first using the compensation calculator to see what a claim might be worth before you commit to anything.
For a full picture of how the no win no fee guarantee works in practice, including what happens if a claim doesn’t succeed, that page sets out the terms in plain language. Getting a case assessed costs nothing and carries no obligation to proceed.
Sources
FAQ
What fee does Digby Brown charge?
Always check the exact percentage and band against your own written agreement.
What is a success fee?
How much is a solicitor’s success fee typically?
Scotland Claims Injury Lawyers charges no success fee at all.
What happens if my claim is unsuccessful?
You don’t pay a success fee if your claim fails, since the fee only ever comes from compensation you actually recover. QOCS also generally protects you from the other side’s legal expenses provided the claim was pursued honestly.
Can a solicitor charge more than the statutory cap?
No. Any agreement exceeding the caps set out in the 2020 Regulations is unenforceable to that extent, though a solicitor can lawfully charge less than the maximum.
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