Freelance contract: what every UK freelancer must include
Working without a contract is one of the most common and costly mistakes UK freelancers make. When a project goes wrong — scope creep, late payment, a dispute about deliverables — the absence of a written agreement leaves you with limited options. Courts can infer contractual terms from email exchanges and conversations, but this is slow, expensive, and uncertain.
A well-drafted freelance contract protects you when things go wrong and sets clear expectations when they are going well.
Scope of work
The scope of work is the most important part of a freelance contract. It defines exactly what you are agreeing to deliver — no more, no less.
Vague scope leads to scope creep: clients asking for additional work they believe falls within the original brief, and freelancers feeling unable to push back because nothing is written down. A clearly defined scope gives you the basis to say "that is additional work, here is my rate for it."
Be specific. List the deliverables, specify the format, and note what is explicitly excluded.
Payment terms
Your contract should specify your rate — whether hourly, daily, or per project — the total fee, the payment schedule, and how invoices should be submitted.
Include a late payment provision. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, you are entitled to charge statutory interest on late payments from UK businesses at 8% above the Bank of England base rate. Many freelancers do not know this right exists or do not include it in their contracts.
Consider requiring a deposit — typically 25-50% of the project fee — before starting work. This gives you some protection if the client disappears or refuses to pay.
Revision and amendment process
Define how many rounds of revisions are included in your fee and what the process is for requesting changes. Without this, clients can request unlimited revisions indefinitely, turning a fixed-fee project into an open-ended commitment.
Intellectual property
Who owns the work you create? In the absence of a written agreement, copyright in work created by a freelancer belongs to the freelancer, not the client. Most clients assume the opposite.
If you are willing to assign IP to the client — as is standard in most commercial work — your contract should say so explicitly, and you should consider whether to retain a licence for your portfolio.
If you are not assigning IP — for example, if you are licensing your work — the contract should be clear about what the client can and cannot do with it.
Confidentiality
If you will have access to client information that is sensitive — customer data, business plans, financial information — include a confidentiality clause. This is also in your interests as a freelancer: it demonstrates professionalism and gives the client confidence in engaging you with sensitive information.
Termination
Include provisions for what happens if either party wants to end the project early. How much notice is required? What happens to work completed to date? Are you paid for work in progress?
Without a termination clause, a client can walk away at any point without clear obligations, leaving you unpaid for work already done.
Getting your freelance contract reviewed
If a client has sent you their contract rather than asking you to use yours, PaperSafe can review it in under 2 minutes for £49 — identifying provisions that are unfair to you and telling you what to negotiate before you start work.
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