What should a UK coach contract include?

A UK coach contract should name the parties, the programme, session length and format, fees and payment plans, cancellation, no-show and reschedule notice, confidentiality and its limits, who owns worksheets and materials, a liability cap, and what happens if they pay late. Sign it before the first session. Coaching is not therapy — write that boundary on the paper.

This page is England and Wales first. Copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is UK-wide. The consumer cancellation right cited here is UK-wide. Off-payroll working (IR35) is a UK tax rule and only matters when you coach into an organisation as a contractor. The money-claim route for an unpaid invoice is the England and Wales procedure in Client won't pay a freelance invoice.

There is no coaching-agreement-only template on Contracts.io. Start from a consulting agreement. A packaged programme can sit on a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. Ongoing slots sit on a retainer. Repeat work can hang a statement of work under standing terms. Company-to-company contractor coaching can start from an independent contractor agreement. If you are sharing unpublished programme notes before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it. Contracts for coaches is the shorter audience page. How to write a consulting agreement is the shorter how-to. What should a UK consultant contract include? is the strategy sibling.

Twelve blocks do the work:

The 48-hour notice, eight-session package and 30-day notice are examples, not a statutory rate. Write the numbers you actually use.

What goes in a freelance or contractor agreement compares templates. How to write a contract is the general checklist. This page is the UK coach version.

Do not email a Word file and hope v4_final is the one they signed. Both sides should edit and e-sign one shared draft.

Coaching is a commercial service: sessions, a programme and a fee. It is not therapy, medical treatment or regulated legal, tax or investment advice. Write that boundary on the paper. You advise; they decide. A later reader should not treat a session note as a diagnosis or a guaranteed outcome.

This is practice framing, not a statute we invent. The paper still has to say what you sell.

Useful splits:

• Output. Named sessions, a workbook, a review. Not “you will change your life.”
• Decision. You advise; they decide. You are not their clinician and you are not their solicitor.
• Scope. Life, business, executive or wellness coaching. If the job is strategy for a company with a report, Contracts for consultants is the closer page.
• Success. Paid for the work described, not for their revenue, health or a ranking.

In a business-to-business services contract there is an implied term that you will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill — Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.13. For a consumer client, Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.49 implies the same care-and-skill term. You do not need to write that sentence for it to exist. You do need to write what the service is, or “reasonable care” has nothing to attach to.

Example

The Coach will provide the Services in SchedulescheduleA schedule is an annex to the contract that holds the detail: fees, dates, deliverables, service levels. It is part of the agreement if the main body says so. An order-of-precedence line should say what happens if the schedule and the clauses collide. Swap a schedule only by the variation method the contract names.More in the glossary 1. The Services are coaching. They are not therapy, medical treatment or reserved legal, tax or investment advice. The Coach advises; the Client decides whether to adopt any recommendation. The Coach does not guarantee a commercial, personal or health outcome.

In Plain English: they buy your sessions and your judgment. They stay in charge of what they do with it. You are not selling a result, a diagnosis or a reserved professional opinion.

Name the sessions, the length, the format and what “done” looks like. “Coaching” is not a list. “Eight 60-minute Zoom sessions over 12 weeks; no 24/7 WhatsApp cover” is a list. Extra sessions, a second programme and in-person travel are a change of scope, quoted first.

A working programme answers five things:

• What is in. Session count, length, format (Zoom, phone, in person), and any worksheets or recordings included.
• What is out. 24/7 messaging, emergency cover, therapy, a second person in the room, travel days — unless they are on the in-list.
• The diary. How sessions are booked, the window they must use, and what happens to an unused session at the end of the term.
• What “done” looks like. The session took place, or the recording and notes were delivered. A missed week is not extra homework unless you wrote that.
• Change of scope. A ninth session, a second brand, or “can you also train my team” is change control, not a courtesy. See Client keeps adding extra work.

The counts below are examples of how to write the list, not a market rate.

Example

The Services are the sessions and materials in Schedule 1. Extra sessions, a second programme, in-person travel and messaging outside the hours in Schedule 1 are quoted and agreed in writing before they start. Unused sessions do not roll unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: they get the named sessions on the named format. A ninth hour is a new fee. Leftover sessions die unless you wrote a roll-over.

Write the package price, any payment plan and when each instalment is due. A depositdepositA deposit is money paid up front, before the main work or the final invoice.More in the glossary before the diary is reserved is a common shape, not a statutory rate. There is no default UK right to keep a deposit; both sides have to agree it. Do not leave “help them grow” as the service.

Money terms that actually get used:

• the package price or monthly fee, and what a session means
• a deposit or first instalment before the diary is reserved
• invoice dates, and a due date such as net 14 or net 30
• a right to pause if an instalment is overdue
• that unused sessions do not roll unless you say so

A retainer is the right paper for a standing monthly slot. Extra sessions are change control, not a courtesy.

Those percentages are examples, not a statutory rate. See payment terms.

Example

The Fee is the package price in Schedule 1. The Client will pay the Deposit on signature. Later instalments are due on the dates in Schedule 1. The Coach will not start, and will not hold further sessions, while any undisputed instalment is overdue. Unused sessions do not roll into a later term unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: they buy this programme at this price. The first sum lands before you start. A late instalment pauses the diary. Leftovers do not pile up unless you wrote that.

Write the notice both sides use to cancel or move a session. Forty-eight hours is a common coaching shape, not a statutory rule. A no-show is usually a used session if you wrote that. There is no default UK right to keep a deposit or charge a kill feekill feeA kill fee is a payment due to a creator or supplier when a client cancels a project before it is finished.More in the glossary; both sides have to agree the sums.

A working cancellation clause answers five things:

• Notice. How many hours or days before a session they must write to move it. Write the number you actually use.
• No-show. If they miss the session without that notice, it is used. You do not owe a free replacement unless the paper says so.
• Your cancellation. If you cancel, you offer a new slot in a named window, or you refund that session.
• Programme cancellation. What is kept, or what extra is due, if they end the package for convenience — the kill fee.
• Deposit. When it is due, that the diary is not reserved until it lands, and that it is credited to the fee. See cancellation and kill fee.

For a business client, an agreed cancellation charge that is really a sum on breach must not be a penalty. Cavendish Square Holding v Makdessi [2015] UKSC 67 asks whether a secondary obligation imposes a detriment out of all proportion to a legitimate interest in performance. Tie the figure to time held and other work turned down.

The longer split, including consumers, is Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?.

Example

The Client may reschedule a session on at least 48 hours’ written notice. A session cancelled or missed with less notice is a used session and is not replaced. If the Client ends the programme for convenience, the Client will pay for sessions delivered and the cancellation sum in Schedule 1. The Deposit is credited to that sum. If the Coach cancels a session, the Coach will offer a replacement in the next 14 days or refund that session.

In Plain English: they have two days to move a slot. A no-show is used. If they call the whole programme off, they pay what you wrote. If you cancel, you rebook or refund that hour.

Those hours and sums are examples, not a statutory rate.

Yes, on a distance or off-premises service contract. A consumer may cancel during the cancellation period without giving a reason. For a service contract that period ends at the end of 14 days after the day the contract is entered into. An unfair consumer term is not binding. A company buying executive coaching is not a consumer for those rules.

Who the client is splits the page:

• A business client (a company, or a person buying in the course of business). No statutory 14-day cooling-off under the 2013 Regulations. An agreed cancellation charge must not be a penalty.
• A consumer (an individual buying a life, wellness or personal-development package wholly or mainly outside their trade). Distance and off-premises contracts carry the 14-day right. The term must be fair.

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give that right (regulation 29). For a service contract the period ends at the end of 14 days after the day the contract is entered into (regulation 30). Booking by email or a website, without both of you in the same place, is a distance contract.

Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.62 says an unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer. A term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faithgood faithGood faith, in English commercial law, is honesty and not undermining the deal you have just made. There is no general implied duty of good faith in every contract. Some long-term relational contracts can carry one: Yam Seng Pte Ltd v International Trade Corp [2013] EWHC 111 (QB). If you want the duty, write it, and say what it requires.More in the glossary, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the detriment of the consumer. A term that keeps a large deposit regardless of when they cancel is the shape that page tests.

The longer consumer-versus-business page is Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?.

Example

If the Client is a consumer and this agreement was made at a distance or off-premises, the Client may cancel in the cancellation period without giving a reason. For the Services that period ends at the end of 14 days after the day this agreement is entered into. This clause does not apply where the Client is buying in the course of a business.

In Plain English: an individual who bought the package online has two weeks to walk away. A company buying executive coaching does not get that statutory cooling-off.

Session talk stays private. Write the usual limits: harm, crime, or a court order. That is practice, not a statute we invent. A confidentiality clause is not an NDANDAAn NDA is a contract in which one or both parties agree to keep shared information confidential.More in the glossary by itself; if you are sharing unpublished programme notes before the deal is signed, put a mutual NDA next to it.

A working confidentiality clause answers four things:

• What. Session content, intake forms, recordings, and business facts they tell you.
• Who. You, any substitute, and any supervisor you named.
• How long. For the term and a named period after, or until the information is public.
• Limits. Disclosure required by law, a court or regulator; disclosure to prevent serious harm; disclosure they have already agreed in writing.

See confidentiality and NDA for UK freelancers. NDAs explained is the longer NDA page.

Do not promise absolute secrecy. A later court order will not care that you wrote “everything stays between us.” Write the limits on day one so the client is not surprised.

Group or corporate programmes need a second line: what you may tell the paying organisation (attendance, not session content) and what stays with the individual.

Example

The Coach will keep Confidential Information private during the engagement and for three years after it ends. Confidential Information includes session content, intake forms and recordings. The Coach may disclose it where required by law or a court, or where the Coach reasonably believes disclosure is necessary to prevent serious harm. The Coach may tell a corporate payer whether the Client attended a booked session, not what was said.

In Plain English: you do not repeat the session. You will speak if the law or serious harm requires it. A company that paid for the slot hears that they turned up, not what they said.

Your own client notes, bookings and invoices are typically data you control. UK GDPR Article 28 applies when you process personal data for a client organisation — for example employee names and attendance on a corporate coaching programme. A one-line “you will comply with data protection law” is not that contract.

Article 28(3) requires a contract that is binding on you as processor and sets out:

• the subject-matter and duration of the processing
• the nature and purpose
• the type of personal data and categories of data subjects
• the obligations and rights of the controller, including the processor terms in Article 28(3)(a)–(h)

Typical coaching piles:

Write processor terms in data protection only for the corporate pile. Do not export employee lists onto a personal laptop “to make a spreadsheet” unless the paper says so. On ending, you stop processing and return or delete what the schedule requires.

In a business services contract there is also an implied term that you will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill — Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.13. For a consumer client, Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.49 implies the same care-and-skill term. Neither section replaces Article 28.

Example

Where the Coach processes personal data for a corporate Client — including employee names, contact details and attendance — that processing is governed by the processor terms in Schedule 2. The Client is the controller. The Coach will not process those data except on the Client’s documented instructions. The Coach’s own session notes, bookings and invoices for a private client are controlled by the Coach.

In Plain English: their staff list is their data. If you run a company programme, write the processor paper. Your own private-client notebook is yours to hold lawfully; it is not an Article 28 job by itself.

You do, unless you assign them. CDPA 1988 s.11 makes the author the first owner of freelance copyright. Worksheets, workbooks and written exercises are literary works. An assignment is not effective unless it is in writing, signed. Paying the invoice does not move title.

The employee exception in s.11(2) applies to employees, not to a coach on a contract for services. Commissioning the programme does not move copyright. If the contract is silent, a court may find a limited implied licencelicenceA licence is permission to use work in an agreed way, without taking ownership away from the person who made it.More in the glossary for the purpose of the commission. That is not ownership. Silence is how a workbook becomes their internal course without a further fee.

CDPA 1988 s.90 is the assignment rule. An IP assignmentIP assignmentAn IP assignment is a transfer of ownership in the work, so the client owns it instead of the person who made it.More in the glossary has to be in writing, signed by you or someone signing on your behalf. A licence is permission to use the work. It is not a transfer of ownership. See IP licence vs assignmentIP licence vs assignmentAn IP assignment transfers ownership of copyright or other intellectual property. A licence is permission to use it; the author still owns it. In England and Wales there is no work-made-for-hire first-owner rule for freelancers: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s.11. An assignment must be in writing and signed: s.90. Say which you mean, and when it happens.More in the glossary and intellectual property assignment.

Keep three piles:

• Named worksheets — the materials for this programme. Licensed or assigned on full payment.
• Recordings — a session recording for the client’s own use is a licence, not a buyout they can productise.
• Methods — frameworks, prompts and unused drafts you brought. Licensed for this engagement as pre-existing materials, not assigned.

A US “work for hirework for hireWork for hire is a phrase, common on US-style papers, meaning the client is treated as the author and owner of the work from the start.More in the glossary” heading does not do that work in England and Wales. See work for hire. Write licence or assignment in English words.

Example

Copyright in the worksheets, workbooks and recordings remains with the Coach. On receipt of full payment the Client is granted the licence in Schedule 1 to use the Deliverables for the Client’s own personal or internal purpose. Until then the Client has no licence to copy, publish, communicate or adapt them. Assignment of copyright is not included unless Schedule 1 says so. Pre-existing materials, frameworks and unused drafts stay with the Coach.

In Plain English: they may use the named worksheets for themselves once they have paid. They do not own your method. A buyout is extra.

If they publish unpaid materials, see Client using your work without paying.

Cap liability at a multiple of the fees. In England and Wales you cannot exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence. You advise; they decide. Do not guarantee their revenue, health or a ranking. See the longer liability guide.

A working limitation of liability names:

• the cap — often the fees paid under the programme, or a named multiple
• what stays unlimited — death or personal injury caused by negligence cannot be excluded or restricted (Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 s.2). Other negligence liability can be limited only so far as the term is reasonable
• whether an indemnity sits inside the cap or punches through it
• that you do not warrant a commercial or personal result

The longer page is How a freelancer caps liability.

In a business services contract there is an implied termimplied termsImplied terms are obligations the law reads into a contract even when the parties did not write them down. In England and Wales they come from statute — for business services, reasonable care and skill under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.13 — or from common law where a term is necessary for business efficacy.More in the glossary that you will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill — Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.13. For a consumer client, Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.49 implies the same care-and-skill term. A cap sits next to that term. It does not delete it.

A working pair:

Do not warrant worldwide regulatory compliance on a small coaching fee. Coaching is not reserved advice; the cap and the boundary clause do that work together.

Example

The Coach’s total liability under this agreement is limited to the fees paid for the programme. Nothing in this agreement limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence. The Coach advises; the Client decides whether to adopt any recommendation. The Coach does not warrant a commercial, personal or health outcome.

In Plain English: if it goes wrong, you are on the hook up to the fees for that programme. You cannot contract out of killing someone by carelessness. They stay in charge of what they do after the session.

A retainerretainerA retainer is an arrangement where a client pays a regular fee to secure a set amount of time or ongoing access to a supplier.More in the glossary buys a named monthly slot. A programme buys a named set of sessions. Do not mix them. Write unused capacitycapacityCapacity is the legal power to bind yourself to a contract. Adults of sound mind and companies registered under the Companies Act 2006 have it. A company's own constitution cannot be used to undo a deal it has done: Companies Act 2006 s.39. Minors can still make some contracts; the Minors' Contracts Act 1987 sets the modern rules.More in the glossary, how extras are quoted, a minimum term and a notice periodnotice periodA notice period is the time that must run after a valid notice before termination, a price change or another named event takes effect. In England and Wales, a notice is construed as a reasonable recipient would read it: Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance [1997] AC 749. Serve it in the form the notices clause requires.More in the glossary. Thirty days after an initial three months is a common freelance shape, not a statutory rule.

Auto-renewal is a separate line. If the retainer rolls, write how they stop it. Silence is how a client is invoiced for a month they thought had ended. See How to end a freelance contract and termination.

Example

The Fee is a monthly retainer for the sessions in Schedule 1. Unused sessions in a month do not roll unless Schedule 1 says so. This agreement has a minimum term of three months. After that, either party may end it on 30 days’ written notice. Work outside Schedule 1 is quoted and agreed in writing before it starts.

In Plain English: they buy this month’s slot. Leftovers do not pile up unless you wrote that. Three months in, then a month’s notice.

Write a short due date, a pause right, and that no licence bites until payment in full. For a UK business client, statutory interest on late commercial payment is 8% above Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed recovery sum. We do not print the current base rate. The 1998 Act does not apply to a consumer client.

Payment terms should name when invoices go out, how many days to pay — net 14 or net 30Net 30Net 30 means the client has 30 days from the invoice date to pay.More in the glossary — a pause right if an undisputed invoice is overdue, and that any licence or assignment passes only on full payment.

For a qualifying business-to-business debt, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 sets statutory interest. GOV.UK on late commercial payments states the rate as 8% plus the Bank of England base rate. Once that interest runs, a fixed recovery sum is also due: £40 under £1,000, £70 from £1,000 to under £10,000, and £100 at £10,000 or more, plus any reasonable recovery costs not met by that sum. See late payment interest.

Do not invent a contract rate that has no link to the statute or to the paper.

Example

Each undisputed invoice is due within 14 days of its date. The Coach may pause sessions while any undisputed invoice is more than 7 days overdue. Copyright and any licence to use the Deliverables pass to the Client only on payment in full. Statutory interest and compensation on late commercial payment apply where the 1998 Act applies.

In Plain English: they have two weeks to pay. After a week late, you stop the diary. They do not own unpaid worksheets. A business client can owe the statutory interest and the fixed recovery sum.

The chase sequence is Client won't pay a freelance invoice.

IR35 only matters when you coach into an organisation as a contractor through your company. It does not apply to a private individual buying a life-coaching package. No label decides the tax. From 6 April 2021, public authorities and medium or large clients must give a status determination statement. Small private-sector clients leave that decision with your company.

The off-payroll working rules sit in ITEPA 2003. From 6 April 2021, where services are provided through an intermediary to a public authority or a medium or large client with a UK connection, the client must give a status determination statement. That statement must say whether the worker would be an employee if engaged directly, explain the reasons, and be reached with reasonable care.

Where services are provided through an intermediary to a person who is not a public authority and who qualifies as small for the tax year, Chapter 8 applies. A company qualifies as small for a tax year if the small companies regime in the Companies Act 2006 applies to its last financial year that is relevant to that tax year. The worker’s company then decides status.

What the contract can still do is describe the working relationship accurately:

• Autonomy. You decide how to run the agreed sessions. The client sets the outcomes and reasonable site rules, not day-to-day methods.
• Genuine substitution. You may send a suitably qualified substitute, paid by you. An unlimited client veto makes the right look unreal.
• Mutuality. Each programme or statement of workstatement of workA statement of work (SOW) is a document that describes the specific work, deliverables, timeline and fees for one project.More in the glossary is a separate engagement. Neither side is obliged to offer or accept further work when an engagement ends.

HMRC looks at the contract and the working practices together. Sitting in their office every morning with no substitute will not be rescued by a contractor heading. Put substitution in the assignment and subcontracting clause of an independent contractor agreement or consulting agreement.

The longer page is IR35 contract clauses checklist. This page does not invent wording beyond that.

Example

The Coach decides how to deliver the agreed sessions. The Client may set outcomes, deadlines and reasonable access rules, not day-to-day methods. The Coach may send a suitably qualified substitute, paid by the Coach. Each programme is a separate engagement. Neither side is obliged to offer or accept further work when an engagement ends.

In Plain English: you run the how. They buy the what. You can send someone else who can do the job. This programme is this programme — not a promise of next year.

On Contracts.io both sides draft, negotiate and e-signe-signatureAn e-signature is any electronic way of showing agreement to a document, such as a typed name, a drawn signature or a click.More in the glossary one shared coaching agreement, so the programme, the cancellation line and the ownership of worksheets are the version you both signed. Describe the job in a sentence. Lex, our AI host, drafts. You share one link. Nobody emails v4_final.docx back and forth.

The client opens that link. They can Accept, Counter or Decline on the same version, then both of you e-sign it. The other side never pays and does not need an account.

Start from a consulting agreement or a freelancer agreement. A monthly slot sits on a retainer. You can also start from the AI contract generator or the contract generator. If you are sharing unpublished programme notes before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it.

That does not chase an invoice for you. It does mean the retainer, the licence or IP assignment, the cancellation line and the confidentiality clause are the words you both signed, not a line lost in email.

Free £0, then paid plans from £15 a month — see /pricing.

Try it on contracts.io: describe the coaching programme in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign before the first session.

Contracts for coaches is the wider set of terms that sit around this paper. Contracts for consultants is the strategy sibling. Contracts for freelancers is the delivery sibling. How to write a consulting agreement is the shorter how-to. NDA for UK freelancers is the pitch-stage paper. Should I start work before the contract is signed? is the day-one rule.