What should a UK influencer contract include?

A UK influencer contract should name the parties, the platforms, the deliverables, usage windows, exclusivity, fees and VAT, approval rounds, advertising disclosure, who owns the photos and video, a liability cap, and what happens if a booked date is unused. Sign it before the first post goes live.

This page is England and Wales first. Copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is UK-wide. Off-payroll working (IR35) is a UK tax rule and only matters when you post into an organisation as a contractor through your company. The money-claim route for an unpaid invoice is the England and Wales procedure in Client won't pay a freelance invoice. Typical brand–creator deals are business-to-business. Do not paste consumer cooling-off onto a company brief.

Start from an influencer agreement. That paper already has usage, fee, exclusivity and disclosure slots. A wider freelance job can sit next to a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. Repeat campaigns can hang a statement of work under standing terms. Stills-only reuse can sit next to a photo licence. A filmed day can sit next to a videography contract. Company-to-company contractor work can start from an independent contractor agreement. If you are sharing an unreleased product before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it. Contracts for influencers is the shorter audience page. What should a UK social media manager contract include? is the page-running sibling.

The ASA CAP Code and CMA social media endorsements guidance tell creators and brands how paid, gifted and affiliate posts must be labelled. Those are advertising rules and CMA guidance, not a statute we invent. We cite CAP Code rule 2.1 because the ASA publishes it.

Twelve blocks finish this paper:

The counts, windows and 50% split are examples of how to write the list, not prices we charge. Write the numbers you actually use.

Sign before the first post. Should I start work before the contract is signed? is the day-one rule.

Name each platform, each format, the count, and the go-live window. “Social posts” is not a list. “Instagram: two Reels and four Stories; YouTube: one 60-second Short; no TikTok, no live, by Friday 17:00 UK” is a list. Extra platforms, a second SKU and a live are a change of scope, quoted first.

Write six things:

• Platforms. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, a blog, a newsletter. Direction and account matter. A personal TikTok is not the brand’s TikTok.
• Formats. Feed post, Story, Reel, live, Short, community post. A Story that vanishes is not a Reel that stays.
• Count and length. How many, and a maximum duration if it matters.
• Go-live window. Date and time zone. If time is of the essencetime is of the essence“Time is of the essence” makes a deadline a condition of the contract. In England and Wales a party who misses that deadline is then in breach of a condition, so the other side can terminate and claim damages even if the delay is short.More in the glossary, write that in English words. See time is of the essence.
• What is out of scope. A second brand, a live Q&A, a filmed day, paid ads you run yourself.
• Brand safety. Categories the creator will not post; products that must not appear in frame; claims the brand warrants.

A working brand-safety line answers three things: what the creator will not post, what the brand will not ask them to say, and who stands behind product claims. The brand warrants facts, prices, testimonials and product claims it supplies. You warrant originality of new content, except brand materials. See warranties.

Example

The Creator will deliver the Content 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 on the named platforms by the go-live window in that Schedule. Extra platforms, a second product, a live and a filmed day are out of scope and will be quoted first. The Creator will not post the categories listed as excluded in Schedule 1. The Brand warrants the claims and assets it supplies.

In Plain English: they get the named posts on the named channels by the named date. A new channel is a new fee. They stand behind the product. You do not post the excluded pile.

A change-control line stops a “quick extra Story” becoming unpaid work. Scope creep and change control is the longer page.

Write the fee, whether VAT is extra, when invoices go out and how many days they have to pay. VAT is added if you are VAT-registered; that is practice, not a rate we invent. For a UK business brand, late commercial payment carries statutory interest. The 1998 Act does not apply to a consumer client.

Payment terms should name:

• the fee and the basis — a campaign fee, a per-post fee, or a named day;
• whether VAT is extra;
• when invoices go out — on signature, on go-live, or in named stages;
• 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, including a right not to post;
• that any licence or assignment passes only on full payment.

A deposit before booked dates are reserved is a common shape, not a statutory rate. A 50% invoice on signature and 50% on go-live is an example of how to split a campaign fee, not a price we charge. There is no default UK right to keep a deposit; both sides have to agree it. See Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?.

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. We do not print the current 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.

Example

The fee is the figure in Schedule 1. VAT is charged in addition where the Creator is VAT-registered. 50% is due on signature and reserves the dates. The balance is due within 14 days of the last Content going live. The Creator may pause posting while any undisputed invoice is more than 7 days overdue. Copyright and any licence to use the Content pass to the Brand only on payment in full. Statutory interest and compensation on late commercial payment apply where the 1998 Act applies.

In Plain English: they pay to reserve the diary. They have two weeks after go-live for the rest. After a week late, you stop. They do not own unpaid content. A business brand can owe the statutory interest and the fixed recovery sum.

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

Write the notice both sides use to cancel a booked date, what unused days cost, and the 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 if they stop a started campaign. There is no default UK right to keep a depositdepositA deposit is money paid up front, before the main work or the final invoice.More in the glossary or charge unused days; both sides have to agree the sums. Typical brand–creator deals are B2B. For a consumer, a 14-day right can apply, and the term must be fair.

A common freelance shape — not a statutory rule — is:

• a deposit to reserve named dates;
• short-notice cancellation of reserved dates charged in full or in part;
• a kill fee if they stop after work has started, covering work done plus a named unused-time charge;
• postponement is not a free rewrite of the diary.

Force majeureforce majeureForce majeure is a clause that pauses a party’s duties when something outside both sides’ control stops the work.More in the glossary sits at a high level. If a platform outage, illness or an event neither side could reasonably control stops a live or a go-live date, write who can postpone, whether the date moves, and that unused booked dates still follow the kill-fee line. FrustrationfrustrationFrustration discharges a contract when an unforeseen event makes performance impossible or something radically different from what was agreed. In England and Wales the test is Davis Contractors Ltd v Fareham UDC [1956] AC 696. Taylor v Caldwell (1863) 3 B & S 826 is the classic illustration: a music hall burned down, so the hire could not go ahead.More in the glossary under the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943 is a last-resort statute when performance becomes impossible. Do not treat a change of campaign brief as frustration. See force majeure and frustration.

For a business brand the charge must not be a penalty. A genuine pre-estimate of lost booked time is the shape that holds; a figure designed to punish is the shape that fails. See Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi. We do not invent a holding beyond that.

Example

A deposit of the sum in Schedule 1 reserves the dates in that Schedule. If the Brand cancels reserved dates on less than 48 hours’ notice, those dates are charged. If the Brand ends the campaign after work has started, the Creator is due the work done at the agreed rate plus the unused-time charge in Schedule 1. A postponement agreed in writing moves the dates; it does not waive the unused-time charge unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: unused booked days are charged if you wrote that. Starting the Reels and then stopping still costs them the work done and the named kill fee. Moving the date is a written change, not a free pass.

The longer consumer-versus-business page is Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?. Cancellation and kill fee is the clause page.

Paid, gifted or affiliate content must be obviously identifiable as an ad. Write who is responsible for that line — typically the brand for the claims, you for posting the agreed label. CAP Code rule 2.1 requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable as such. The CMA tells creators to use a clear, upfront label such as “Ad”, “Advert” or “#ad”.

The CAP Code, Section 2 is the UK non-broadcast advertising code on recognising ads, enforced by the ASA. Rule 2.1 is the identifiable-as-ads rule. Rule 2.3 says marketing communications must not falsely claim or imply that the marketer is acting as a consumer. Rule 2.4 says advertorials must be made clear as marketing communications — for example by heading them “advertisement feature”. Those are advertising-code rules, not a statute we invent.

The CMA’s social media endorsements guidance says that if you have been incentivised in any way — payment, a gift, a loan, a discount, a commission, an affiliate link — the content must be clearly identifiable as an ad, on photos, videos, Reels, Stories, podcasts and other posts. The CMA lists labels to use (ad, advert, advertising, advertisement) and labels to avoid as the only disclosure (“#gifted”, “#spon”, “#collab”, “#affiliate”, “Funded by”, just naming the brand). The label must be prominent, upfront, and obvious before anyone engages. Platform tools such as “Paid partnership” can sit next to an “Ad” label; they are not a substitute if they are easy to miss. The ASA’s recognising-ads advice says the same in ASA words: a prominent “Ad” label at the beginning, not buried in hashtags or behind “See more”.

A working split:

Write that split in the warranties clause. If they want a matching indemnity for a third-party claim that the content is not original, cap it and keep it next to the originality warrantywarrantyA warranty is a promise that something is true, such as “this work is original” or “we have the right to grant this licence.”More in the glossary. Do not warrant worldwide advertising-code compliance on a small creator fee.

Both the brand and the creator can be named in an ASA ruling. The CMA says everyone involved in creating the content must take responsibility for labelling. Write that both sides will use the agreed label. Do not leave disclosure as a vibe in a briefing Slack.

Example

The Brand warrants that facts, prices, testimonials and claims it supplies are accurate and that it has the right to use them. The Creator warrants that the Content, except Brand materials, is original to the Creator and that the Creator will carry out the services with reasonable care and skill. The Creator does not warrant that Brand claims are true. Each item of Content that is paid, gifted or affiliate shall be labelled, upfront and prominently, with the wording in Schedule 1, which shall include “Ad” or “#ad”.

In Plain English: they stand behind the product. You stand behind the posting and that the new work is yours. Every paid or gifted item carries an upfront Ad label, not a buried hashtag.

You do, unless you assign it. CDPA 1988 s.11 makes the author the first owner of freelance copyright. Captions and copy are literary works. Photographs and many stills are artistic works. Films and many Reels sit as films. Paying the fee does not move title. An assignment is not effective unless it is in writing, signed.

The employee exception in s.11(2) applies to employees, not to a creator on a contract for services. Commissioning a Reel 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 brand puts a Reel into a paid-ad campaign and then argues they thought they had bought it.

GOV.UK on ownership of copyright works is blunt about commissions: the first legal owner is the person who created the work, not the commissioner, unless you otherwise agree it in writing.

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:

• Finals — the named posts, Reels, Stories and stills. Licensed or assigned on full payment.
• Unused drafts — options they did not pick. Not included unless the paper says so.
• Libraries — your earlier work, music you brought, templates, a face or a catchphrase you already used. Licensed for this job 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.

Brand-supplied assets stay theirs. You get a licence to use them for the job. Music, stock and fonts you did not create stay on their own licences. Do not promise you can assign a track you do not own.

Example

Copyright in the Content remains with the Creator. On receipt of full payment the Brand is granted the licence in Schedule 1 to use the Content for the purpose, territory and duration named in that Schedule. Until then the Brand has no licence to copy, publish, communicate or adapt it. Assignment of copyright is not included unless Schedule 1 says so. Pre-existing materials and unused drafts stay with the Creator. The Brand warrants it has the right to supply the assets it provides.

In Plain English: they may use the named posts as the schedule says, once they have paid. They do not own the files. A buyout is extra. Your earlier work stays yours.

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

Licence the named use unless they must own the files. An assignment is a buyout: writing, signed, on full payment. A licence is permission. Most campaigns need a licence of organic posting on named brand channels for a named window — not a transfer of the copyright. Whitelisting and paid amplification are a separate use. Price them. Moral rightsmoral rightsMoral rights are the author’s personal rights in a copyright work: to be identified as author, and not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment. In the UK they sit in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ss.77–80. They cannot be assigned. They can be waived in writing, signed by the person giving them up, under s.87.More in the glossary stay with you unless you waivewaiverA waiver is a choice not to enforce a right this time, without rewriting the contract. Accepting late work once does not, by itself, kill a time-is-of-the-essence clause if a no-waiver line is present. Waiver is not a variation: Rock Advertising Ltd v MWB [2018] UKSC 24 still requires the agreed method for a change of terms.More in the glossary them in writing, signed.

Whitelisting is industry practice, not a statute. It means the brand (or its media buyer) runs paid ads using your content, your handle, or both, so the ad appears as if from you or uses your face and caption. That is a different use from the brand posting the Reel on its own grid. Write the platforms, the window, whether your handle is used, and whether a spend cap sits on the paper. Do not give a perpetual paid-ads licence as a courtesy.

An exclusive licence is a further step. CDPA 1988 s.92 says an exclusive licence is a licence in writing, signed, authorising the licensee to the exclusion of all other persons, including you, to exercise a right that would otherwise be yours alone. If they want exclusivity of use, write it as an exclusive licence of named uses, not as a heading.

Moral rights sit next to the economic rights. The author of a copyright literary or artistic work, and the director of a copyright film, has the right to be identified (s.77) and the right not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment (s.80). Those rights cannot be assigned. They may be waived by an instrument in writing signed by the person giving up the right (s.87). See moral rights and usage rights and credit. A credit line is practice; a waiver is a signed paper, not a heading. Cropping a Reel into a claim you would not stand behind is the derogatory-treatment conversation.

Example

On full payment the Brand is granted a non-exclusive licence to use the Content on the Brand’s owned channels listed in Schedule 1 for the duration in that Schedule. Paid media, boosting and whitelisting of the Creator’s handle or Content are not included unless Schedule 1 names them and the extra fee. Assignment of copyright is not included. The Creator does not waive moral rights unless Schedule 1 attaches a signed waiver.

In Plain English: they can put the named posts on their own channels for the named window once they have paid. Running them as ads, or attaching your handle to a paid campaign, is extra. They cannot sell the copyright on. A credit stays unless you signed it away.

Contracts for photographers and Contracts for videographers are the stills and film siblings for the same licence-versus-assignment split.

Name the category, the rival brands if you can, the platforms, and the window. Price it. An exclusivity clauseexclusivity clauseAn exclusivity clause stops one side working with other people in a named market, for a named time. In England and Wales a lock-out has to be for a fixed period: Walford v Miles [1992] 2 AC 128 is why an agreement to negotiate exclusively with no end date fails.More in the glossary that bans every paid post in every category forever is the shape that fails in practice. Exclusivity is not an assignment of copyright and it is not a non-competenon-competeA non-compete is a promise not to do similar work for a competitor, or in a named market, for a period after the job.More in the glossary by another name unless you wrote it that way.

A working exclusivity line answers five things:

• Category. Skincare, not “beauty and wellness and anything adjacent”.
• Names. Named rivals where you can. “Direct competitors” without names is how a later argument starts.
• What is banned. Paid posts, gifted posts, affiliate links — write which. Organic use of a product you already own is a different pile.
• Platforms. The channels in the deal, or every channel you post on.
• Window. During the campaign and a named period after. Fourteen or thirty days after the last post is a common freelance shape, not a statutory period.

A right of first refusalright of first refusalA right of first refusal gives one party the chance to match a third-party offer before the other side can take it. It is not exclusivity and not a right of first offer. Write the trigger, the terms that must be shared, the days to match, and whether silence is a waiver. Keep the window short.More in the glossary is a narrower tool: they get a chance to match another brand in that category before you take it. A most favoured nationmost favoured nationA most favoured nation clause says the supplier will not give another customer a better price or term without offering the same to this client. It is a pricing promise, not exclusivity. Draft the comparison: same scope, same volume, same period. An open-ended MFN across every client and every product is hard to police and easy to breach.More in the glossary line is a price promise, not exclusivity. Do not mix the three in one sentence.

An exclusivity clause that stops you working for anyone else can look like employment when you post through a personal company into a brand or agency. If they want a wide exclusive, price it and keep it narrow. See IR35 contract clauses checklist.

Example

During the Term and for 14 days after the last Content goes live, the Creator shall not publish paid or gifted content in the category and for the named brands in Schedule 1, on the platforms in that Schedule. Organic, unpaid mention of a product the Creator already uses is not included. This clause is not an assignment of copyright and does not stop the Creator working in other categories.

In Plain English: for the named window you do not take paid or gifted posts for the named rivals in that category. You can still post in other categories. They did not buy your copyright by buying exclusivity.

Contracts for agencies is the campaign sibling when an agency sits between the brand and you.

Write how many rounds they get, how many working days they have, and what silence means. One packed set of comments is a round. A drip of Slack notes is not. Silence after the window is usually treated as approval, so posting is not blocked by a late marketing lead. A late brief does not squeeze your production window unless the paper says so.

Revisions and acceptance should name:

• What a round is. Consolidated comments on the then-current draft, against the agreed brief. Not a new brief.
• How many. One inclusive round is a common freelance shape. Write the number. See revision limitrevision limitA revision limit says how many rounds of changes are included in the fee before extra work is quoted.More in the glossary.
• The window. Three working days is a common shape, not a statutory period.
• What silence means. If they do not reply in the window, you may post the then-current draft.
• What is new work. A new product, a new claim, a new platform, or a request to reshoot.

If the brand redlinesredlineA redline is a proposed edit on a draft contract — words added, struck out or rewritten — not a signed change.More in the glossary “silence is approval” out of the paper, that is a price and timeline issue, not a courtesy. See Your client redlined your contract.

Example

The fee includes one round of revisions against the agreed brief. Comments must be consolidated and sent within three working days of the draft. If the Brand does not reply in that window, the Creator may treat the draft as approved and may post it. A new product, a new claim, a new platform or a reshoot is new work and will be quoted first.

In Plain English: they get one pass on the draft you both agreed. If they go quiet, you post. A new SKU is a new quote.

Unreleased products, launch dates and embargoed assets stay private until the go-live window. Write the usual limits: a court order, or what the brand has already made public. A confidentialityconfidentialityConfidentiality is a promise to keep shared information private and to use it only for the agreed purpose.More in the glossary 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 opening an unreleased product before the deal is signed, put a mutual NDA next to it.

Confidentiality on the influencer agreement should name:

• the product, the launch date, unreleased assets, and the fact of the campaign until go-live;
• how long the duty lasts after the post — the life of the remaining sensitivity, not “forever” as a slogan;
• the usual limits: a court order, information already public, or information you already held;
• whether you may name the brand in a portfolio. Many unreleased launches say no until the embargo lifts. See publicity and portfolio use.

An embargo is a go-live rule, not a separate statute. Write the date and time zone the post may go live, and that a leak before that time is a breach. Do not post a Story of the box on the courier’s dashboard.

A one-way NDAone-way NDAA one-way NDA is a confidentiality agreement where only one side discloses information and only the other side is bound to keep it private.More in the glossary the brand sends before they will ship the product is common. Read it. A clause that assigns copyright in the content, or that bans you from working for anyone in their sector, is not an NDA. See NDA for UK freelancers and the NDA generator.

Example

The Creator will keep the Product, launch date, unreleased assets and the fact of this campaign confidential until the go-live window in Schedule 1, and will not disclose them except where required by law or a court order, or where the information is already public other than through the Creator’s breach. Portfolio use of the Brand’s name is not included until that window, unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: the box stays in the job until the named go-live. You do not post it early. You do not put their name on your site until they said you could.

NDAs explained is the longer NDA page.

Your own invoices, emails and follower analytics on your channel are typically data you control. UK GDPR Article 28 applies when a campaign collects audience data for the brand — giveaway entries, a list you process on their instructions, or unique tracking links you operate for them. A one-line “you will comply with data protection law” is not that contract.

The split is:

• Controller. You decide why you hold your own invoices, your own CRM and the analytics the platform shows you on your account.
• Processor. You collect emails for their giveaway, you operate a tracking link they gave you that identifies people, or you export a list on their instructions. They decide the purpose; you process on their instructions.
• Article 28. Processing by a processor must be governed by a contract that is binding and that sets out the subject-matter, duration, nature and purpose, the type of personal data and categories of data subjects, and the processor terms in Article 28(3)(a)–(h). See data protection.

Typical campaign data:

Do not export their giveaway list 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.

This is high-level B2B framing. We do not invent a further UK GDPR obligation beyond Article 28 and the data protection clause.

Example

Where the Creator processes personal data for the Brand — including giveaway entries and unique tracking links that identify a person — that processing is governed by the processor terms in Schedule 2. The Brand is the controller. The Creator will not process those data except on the Brand’s documented instructions. Insights on the Creator’s own channel remain the Creator’s data.

In Plain English: their giveaway list is their data. Your own analytics stay yours. If you collect names for them, write the processor paper, not a vibe.

Usually no. A brand or agency buying a campaign in the course of business is not a consumer. Do not paste the 14-day cooling-off onto a company brief. Consumer rights only bite when the counterpartycounterpartyThe counterparty is the other side of the contract — the person or company you are making the deal with.More in the glossary is a consumer — for example a private individual buying a birthday shout-out wholly or mainly outside their trade.

Who the other side is splits the page:

• A business brand (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. The 1998 Act can apply to late payment.
• A consumer (an individual buying a personal shout-out or a one-off mention 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. Section 49 says a trader supplying a service must do so with reasonable care and skill. Neither section turns a company campaign into a consumer contract.

Most Instagram, TikTok and YouTube brand deals on this page are the left-hand column. Write the paper that way.

Example

If the Brand is a consumer and this agreement was made at a distance or off-premises, the Brand 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 Brand is buying in the course of a business.

In Plain English: an individual who booked a birthday shout-out online has two weeks to walk away. A company buying a product launch does not get that statutory cooling-off.

Cap liability at a multiple of the fees. In England and Wales you cannot exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence. Do not guarantee a post will convert, a ranking, or that a platform will keep the post up. See the longer liability guide.

Limitation of liability on a creator job usually does four things:

• caps the creator’s total liability at the fees paid for that campaign, or a named multiple;
• excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence from that cap — Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 s.2 does not let you exclude it;
• says other negligence liability can be limited only so far as the term is reasonable;
• leaves the 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 a service is performed with reasonable care and skill — Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.13 for B2B, Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.49 for a consumer.

We do not invent a case holding that a particular cap is reasonable. Reasonableness is a fact-specific test. A cap at the fees, with the UCTA floor left in, is the common freelance shape.

A liability cap is not an indemnityindemnityAn indemnity is a promise to cover another party's losses arising from a particular event or claim.More in the glossary. Do not sign an unlimited indemnity for “any loss arising from the post” on a product-liability brief without pricing that risk. The brand warrants its claims; you warrant originality and the agreed label. How a freelancer caps liability is the longer page.

Example

The Creator’s total liability under this agreement is capped at the fees paid for the Content. Nothing in this agreement excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. The Creator does not warrant a commercial result, a ranking, or that a platform will keep the Content available.

In Plain English: if the job goes wrong, they can come for the fee, not for an open-ended loss. You still owe care and skill. You cannot write out death or injury caused by negligence. You did not promise the Reel would sell the product.

Contracts for copywriters is the sibling page when the work is claims in copy rather than a posted Reel.

IR35 only matters when you post into an organisation as a contractor through your company. It does not apply to a private individual buying a shout-out. 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.

Write the working practices, then work that way:

• you decide how the content is made;
• you can send a qualified substitute, and you have actually used one or can;
• there is no obligation on them to offer further campaigns, and none on you to accept them;
• you use your own tools and your own channel;
• you are not on their org chart, in their Slack, or in their holiday rota.

A heading that says “independent contractor” does not take you outside IR35. Chapter 10 of ITEPA 2003 (ss.61K, 61N and 61NA) puts the status determination on the public-authority or medium or large client with a UK connection. Chapter 8 and s.60A leave small private-sector clients on the older rules. See IR35 contract clauses checklist and sole trader vs limited companysole trader vs limited companyA sole trader contracts in a personal name and is personally liable. A limited company is a separate legal person; the company is on the hook, not the director, unless there is a guarantee. Switching from one to the other is a novation, not a letterhead change. IR35 / off-payroll rules can still apply to a personal service company.More in the glossary.

An exclusivity clause that stops you working for anyone else can look like employment. If they want exclusivity in a sector, price it and keep it narrow.

Most direct-to-brand creator posts never reach this heading. Agency-to-creator jobs into a medium or large end-client still should, because the end client is often an organisation.

Example

The Creator is an independent contractor. The Creator decides how the Content is produced, may send a qualified substitute, and is not obliged to accept further campaigns. Nothing in this agreement makes the Creator an employee, worker or agent of the Brand. The parties will work in line with any status determination statement the Brand is required to give.

In Plain English: the tax follows how you actually work. A label on page one does not decide it. A large company brand has to give you their determination.

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 influencer agreement, so the platforms, the usage window and the Ad label 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 brand 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 an influencer agreement. A wider freelance job can sit next to a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. You can also start from the AI contract generator or the contract generator. If you are sharing an unreleased product before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it, or use the NDA generator.

That does not chase an invoice for you. It does mean the licence or IP assignment, the exclusivity clause, the kill fee and the disclosure line 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 campaign in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign before the first post.

Contracts for influencers is the wider set of terms that sit around this paper. Contracts for social media managers is the page-running sibling. Contracts for photographers is the stills sibling. Contracts for videographers is the film sibling. Contracts for agencies is the campaign sibling. Contracts for freelancers is the delivery sibling. What goes in a freelance or contractor 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.