Success fee agreements in Scotland

"No win no fee" is a marketing phrase. In Scotland the legal instrument behind it is usually a success fee agreement, and it is regulated.

What a success fee agreement is

A success fee agreement is a written contract between you and your solicitor under which their fee depends on the outcome of the claim. If the claim does not succeed, no fee is payable. If it does, the solicitor takes an agreed percentage of your damages.

Two pieces of law govern it:

• the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018, which created the framework; and
• the Success Fee Agreements (Scotland) Regulations 2020, which set the maximum a solicitor may charge.

This is not the same as an English conditional fee agreement. The two systems developed separately, the caps are different, and guidance written for England does not describe the Scottish position.

Speculative fee agreements are a different thing

You may also see "speculative fee agreement" used. That is an older Scottish arrangement under which a solicitor takes a case on the basis that they are paid only on success, historically with an uplift on judicial expenses recovered from the defender rather than a percentage of your damages. The two are related but not interchangeable, and the 2020 Regulations govern success fees specifically. If a firm uses either phrase, ask them to set out in writing exactly what would be deducted, and from what.

How the caps work

The cap for personal injury claims is staged, not a single flat percentage. The maximum percentage applies to a first band of damages, then a lower percentage to the next band, and lower again above that. It is inclusive of VAT.

The practical effect is that the proportion taken falls as a claim grows. On a modest claim the top band does most of the work; on a large claim the blended percentage is considerably lower than the headline figure.

Check the figures before relying on them. The band thresholds and percentages are set by regulation and can be changed. Read the current version of the 2020 Regulations, or ask your solicitor to confirm in writing which cap applies to your claim. Do not rely on a percentage quoted in an advert, including on this site.

What the fee is calculated on

This matters as much as the percentage, and it is where most online guidance is vague.

A success fee is taken from damages, not from the expenses recovered from the defender. Firms differ in how they apply it, and some undertake not to touch compensation awarded for financial losses — lost earnings, treatment costs, care — so that the fee comes only from solatium, the award for the injury itself.

Whether that applies to you depends on the agreement you sign. Ask directly:

1. What percentage would be deducted, and from which parts of the award?
2. Is compensation for my financial losses protected from the fee?
3. Is the percentage inclusive of VAT?
4. What happens to outlays if the claim fails?
5. What happens if I stop the claim part-way through, or reject an offer you advise me to accept?

A firm that answers those five questions clearly in writing is one you can assess. A firm that will not is one to avoid.

What you should receive before signing

Your solicitor should give you the agreement in writing and explain it before you commit. You are entitled to take it away and read it. Nobody should be pressing you to sign at a first meeting, and a claim that is genuinely worth bringing today will still be worth bringing after you have read the paperwork.

If you want to stop the claim

This is the question people ask least and regret most, because the answer sits in the agreement rather than in the advert.

A success fee agreement is a contract. Ending it part-way through is not the same as never having started, and what happens next depends on what you signed. Before you sign, ask for the answers to these in writing:

• Can I withdraw, and how? There should be a clear mechanism, and you should know whether notice has to be in writing.
• What do I owe if I withdraw? In many agreements nothing is payable if you simply stop. In others, the firm may seek its fees or the outlays already incurred — court dues, medical reports, expert evidence — particularly if you withdraw late or without good reason.
• What happens to outlays already spent? These are often insured, but confirm that the insurance still responds if the claim ends because you chose to end it rather than because it failed.
• Can the firm withdraw? It usually can, typically if the claim stops being viable or if you do not co-operate. Ask what you would owe in that situation.
• What if I reject an offer my solicitor advises me to accept? Some agreements allow the firm to stop acting, or to charge, if you turn down advice to settle. Whether you accept an offer is your decision — but it can have consequences under the contract.
• What if I change solicitor? You are entitled to. Ask what the first firm would be owed and who pays it.

None of this makes a success fee agreement a bad arrangement. It is how most Scottish personal injury claims are funded, and for most people it works. But "no win no fee" describes what happens if you lose, not what happens if you change your mind, and those are different questions.

If something goes wrong

If you are unhappy with the service you receive, raise it with the firm first. If that does not resolve matters, you can complain to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, which handles complaints about Scottish solicitors. You can check that any solicitor holds a current practising certificate through the Law Society of Scotland.

Related guides

See also how a Scottish claim progresses.

• No win no fee in Scotland — how funding works overall
• QOCS in Scotland — whether you pay the defender's expenses if you lose
• Expenses and outlays — what the Scottish terms actually mean
• Choosing a solicitor

Frequently asked questions

Is a success fee agreement the same as a no win no fee agreement? In practice yes — 'no win no fee' is the marketing phrase and the success fee agreement is the legal instrument behind it in Scotland. It is regulated by the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 and the Success Fee Agreements (Scotland) Regulations 2020.

Is a success fee agreement the same as an English conditional fee agreement? No. The two systems developed separately and the caps are different. A conditional fee agreement is the English instrument. If you are claiming in Scotland, guidance about conditional fee agreements does not describe your position.

How much can a Scottish solicitor take from my damages? The maximum is set by the Success Fee Agreements (Scotland) Regulations 2020. For personal injury the cap is staged rather than a single flat percentage, so the proportion falls as the value of the claim rises, and it is inclusive of VAT. Because the bands are set by regulation and can change, ask your solicitor to confirm in writing which cap applies to your claim.

Is the success fee taken from my whole award? It is taken from damages, not from expenses recovered from the defender. Firms differ in how they apply it, and some undertake not to touch compensation for financial losses such as lost earnings, so the fee comes only from solatium — the award for the injury itself. Ask which parts of the award the fee would be calculated on.

What is a speculative fee agreement? It is an older Scottish arrangement under which a solicitor is paid only on success, historically through an uplift on the judicial expenses recovered from the defender rather than a percentage of your damages. It is related to a success fee agreement but not the same thing, so ask a firm using that phrase to set out exactly what would be deducted and from what.

Sources

• Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018
• Success Fee Agreements (Scotland) Regulations 2020
• Law Society of Scotland — style success fee agreement guidance

Last reviewed: 4 September 2026 by the Personal Injury Claims Scotland editorial team