Solicitors will have to give clients more information about how to challenge bills under new rules to be introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The SRA board will decide on specific wording which solicitors must include when they send a bill, to ensure that clients know how to complain if they are not satisfied with the amount charged.

The wording will encourage the client first to raise the matter with an individual at the firm.

The SRA will also issue guidance setting out circumstances where solicitors will not need to include the wording with every bill. For example, where firms are sending monthly bills to sophisticated corporate clients, the wording will not need to be repeated every time.

Law Society president Robert Heslett said the change was ‘burdensome’ and ‘unnecessary’ as clients are already told how to complain at the start of a retainer.