Freelance Agreement Template

This generic Freelance Agreement Template has been designed for use by a freelance contractor operating through a personal service company (or other intermediary company), to provide their services to a business client. 

This document does not specify any particular subject, skill set or description of particular services or type of work but, instead, is a generic template that is designed to be adapted for use for any type of work or services. Please click on the links on the right for a choice of templates specific to publishing, digital marketing, graphic design and web/software/app development.

An alternative version of this Freelance Agreement template for freelancers operating individually and directly as a sole trader is available at Freelance Contract Template, with other activity specific agreements here.

This agreement aims to reduce the risk that, under employment law and any other applicable law, despite use of a personal service (or other intermediary) company, the freelancer is regarded as an employee as opposed to a contractor. Nevertheless, the freelancer might still be treated as an employee by HMRC, an employment tribunal or any other body, and legislation (such as IR35, agency worker or other rules) might still apply in a way which adversely impacts the freelancer’s or the personal service company’s legal, tax or NIC position. This will depend not just on what is contained in the contract but also on all other circumstances. Those circumstances may include the way in which the contract is implemented and all arrangements between the personal service company, the client and the freelancer.

The application of the Freelance Agreement alone cannot guarantee the status of the freelancer as self-employed, so professional advice should be sought in this respect. The advice will need to consider the content of the document together with all the circumstances and arrangements relating to the work, the freelancer and the client.

A downloadable Note is available at Guidance Note on Employment, Self-Employment and IR35 and additional information at IR35, Employment and Self-Employment.

Nevertheless, a carefully worded agreement documenting the independence of the freelancer is a key starting point.

What is covered by the Freelance Agreement Template?

Payment under this agreement may take the form of a flat fee or hourly rate. The fee also serves as consideration for intellectual property rights (IPRs) granted to the client under the terms of this document. There are two alternative sets of IPR provisions. If the freelancer wishes the personal service company to retain all IPRs, but grant a licence to the client to use the IPRs, the first set of clauses should be selected. If the freelancer wishes the personal service company to assign all IPRs to the client (without the personal service company having a licence or any other rights under the IPRs), the second set of clauses should be selected.  

Each party provides warranties and indemnities to the other with regard to the non-infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.

This document includes a simplified data protection clause which refers to a separate data protection policy (or similar). Full details of personal data use should be provided in that document. You might wish to use the standard Privacy Notice for this purpose and you can find it by clicking here.

Optional phrases / clauses are enclosed in square brackets. These should be read carefully and selected so as to be compatible with one another. Unused options should be removed from the document.

This Consultancy Company Generic Agreement (Freelancer) contains the following sections:

1. Definitions and Interpretation

2. Engagement of the Consultant

3. Nature of Engagement

4. Status of the Consultant

5. Fees

6. Intellectual Property

7. Warranties and Indemnities

8. Liability

9. Insurance

10. Confidentiality

11. Termination

12. Personal Information (Data Protection)

13. Force Majeure

14. Nature of the Agreement

15. Third Party Liability

16. Severance

17. Notices

18. Alternative Dispute Resolution

19. Law and Jurisdiction

and the following schedules:

1. The Work, Consultant Staff, Payments, Purpose for which IPRs may be used,

2. Privacy Notice

This document is in open format. Either enter the requisite details in the highlighted fields or adjust the wording to suit your purposes.

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Freelance Agreement Template is part of Business Documents. Just £35.00 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Business Documents for 1 year.