UK Freelance Contract Pack
Eight curated contract templates for UK freelancers. IR35-aware, with statutory citations throughout. The clauses your copy-pasted contracts are missing.
£27 one-off. Markdown source you can edit. Lemon Squeezy handles payment + UK VAT. No subscription.
What's in it
- 1.Master Services Agreement (MSA). The spine. Defines parties, scope, fees, IP, liability, governing law.
- 2.Statement of Work (SOW). Per-engagement, references the MSA. Reusable.
- 3.Mutual NDA. For the conversations before the MSA is signed.
- 4.IR35 / off-payroll status appendix. The freelancer's representation, written to be paste-ready into a client's SDS process.
- 5.IP assignment with carve-outs. Foreground IP transfers; Background IP (your libraries, methodologies) stays yours.
- 6.Payment terms & invoicing. Invokes the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998: 8% over BoE base, plus £40/£70/£100 fixed compensation.
- 7.Termination & exit clauses. Including data handover and rights-retention until cleared funds.
- 8.Scope-creep clause library. Drop-in lines to defuse the "while you're at it" emails.
Plus: a one-page starter checklist ("first 5 things to include in any freelance contract"), a buyer-facing README, and a clear disclaimer.
Why this isn't another US template re-skinned for the UK
Most "UK freelance contract" templates online are US-derived: California or Delaware governing law, no IR35 framing, no Late Payment Act invocation, no UK-specific IP statute references. That's fine if you're freelancing for a US client and your dispute resolution will be US-jurisdiction. It's less fine when HMRC asks about your tax status or when an unpaid invoice rolls past 60 days.
This pack is written for England and Wales (with footnoted differences for Scotland and Northern Ireland), cites UK statute inline so you can verify each clause in five minutes on legislation.gov.uk, and treats IR35 as a first-class concern instead of an afterthought.
Who this is for
UK-based freelance software contractors, designers, copywriters, marketing consultants, and small (1–3 person) agencies. Specifically the freelancer who's done £30k–£90k of client work and is still copy-pasting contracts from the last engagement, hoping nothing important got dropped.
If you're doing your first freelance gig and aren't sure whether you need a contract at all: read the free 1-pager first. It'll tell you whether this pack is worth £27 to you.
FAQ
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It's template content. A starting point. Every template has an explicit disclaimer. For engagements over £10k, or in regulated industries, get a solicitor to look it over. Templates are well-trodden ground; bespoke advice is what solicitors are for.
- What format are the templates in?
- Markdown source, with sensible structure. You open them in any text editor, fill in the bracketed placeholders, and either send as Markdown or paste into your editor of choice (Word, Pages, Google Docs all import Markdown). Day 1: source only. Day 2 onwards I'll add rendered PDFs.
- Will you keep them updated?
- Yes. Buyers get the v1.x updates for free. If a UK statute changes (the Late Payment Act amendments, an IR35 reform), I update the pack and email anyone who bought it.
- What if I find a flaw?
- Tell me. If it's substantive, I'll fix the pack within 48 hours and credit you in the changelog. Templates with bugs are templates with credibility problems; I'd rather fix them than defend them.
- Refunds?
- 14-day no-questions refund via Lemon Squeezy.
- Why £27?
- Below £49, where buyers want to "see a sample" before paying. Above £19, where buyers assume thin content. A solicitor reviewing a single contract starts at around £150. The pack is curated templates that get you 80% of the way; a solicitor handles the remaining 20% you actually need bespoke help on.
- Does this work for Ltd companies as well as sole traders?
- Yes. The templates name "the Freelancer" rather than a specific entity type; you fill in your trading name (sole trader) or company number + registered office (Ltd) in the same placeholders. The IR35 appendix is the one place this distinction matters in practice, and it covers both routes.
- Is the IR35 appendix current with the April 2025 small-company threshold changes?
- Yes. The thresholds in the appendix use the post-April 2025 figures (turnover £15m / balance sheet £7.5m / 50 employees), per the Companies (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024. If your client meets two or fewer, off-payroll Chapter 10 doesn't apply to them and you assess under Chapter 8.
- Can I use these for non-UK clients?
- The templates are written for English-law contracts. For non-UK clients you can either use them as-is and accept English jurisdiction (often a fine outcome for the freelancer), or swap the governing-law clause and remove the UK-statute citations. The Late Payment Act and IR35 sections are UK-specific and shouldn't travel; everything else (substitution, IP, scope-creep mechanism, termination) is portable.