What should a UK social media manager contract include?

A UK social media manager contract should name the parties, the platforms, monthly deliverables, the content calendar and approval times, who pays ad spend, how account access is granted and handed back, who owns the content, how personal data in DMs and analytics is handled, the fee (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 or project), notice and minimum term, and what happens if they pay late. Sign it before the first post.

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. 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 social-media-manager-only template on Contracts.io. Start from a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. A monthly slot sits on a retainer. Repeat work can hang a statement of work under the services agreement. A paid creator post can sit next to an influencer agreement. Strategy-heavy work can start from a consulting agreement. If you are sharing unpublished calendars or brand assets before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it. Contracts for social media managers is the shorter audience page. What should a UK copywriter contract include? is the copy sibling.

Twelve blocks do the work:

The 30-day notice and three-month minimum 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 social media manager 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.

Name each platform and what “done” looks like each month. “Social media management” is not a list. “Instagram: 12 feed posts, 8 Stories, 2 Reels; LinkedIn: 8 posts; no TikTok, no 24/7 community management” is a list. Extra platforms and paid ads are a change of scope, quoted first.

A working scope answers five things:

• What is in. Named channels, formats and a monthly count or a capacity in hours. A Reel is not a 12-email sequence.
• What is out. A second brand, a second language, paid ads, 24/7 inbox cover, crisis comms, a photoshoot — unless they are on the in-list.
• The brief. Audience, offer, proof points the client supplies, tone, and brand assets they must provide by a date.
• What “done” looks like. Posted, scheduled, or delivered as files. Scheduled in their tool is not the same as posted live.
• Change of scope. A new platform, a product launch week, or “can you also run the ads” 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.

A 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 polishes the agreed posts. Mixing it with a new campaign is how a “third round of amends” becomes a second launch at no fee.

Example

Deliverables are the items 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 for the named platforms. Extra platforms, a second brand, paid advertising and community management outside the hours in Schedule 1 are quoted and agreed in writing before work starts. Unused drafts are not deliverables unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: they get the named monthly list on the named channels. A new channel is a new fee.

Write when the calendar is due, how many working days they have to approve, and what happens if they miss it. Silence after the window is usually treated as approval, so posting is not blocked by a late reply. A late brief does not squeeze your production window unless the paper says so.

A working approval clause answers four things:

• When the calendar is due. A date each month, or a number of working days before the first post.
• The approval window. Three working days is a common freelance shape, not a statutory rule. Write the number.
• What silence means. If they do not reply in the window, you may post the then-current draft. Without that line, a late marketing lead can freeze the month.
• What a late brief does. If assets or comments arrive after the cut-off, the post moves to the next slot, or is quoted as a rush. It does not compress your weekend.

A revision limit still applies inside the window. One packed set of comments is a round. A drip of Slack notes is not.

If the client 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 Manager will issue the content calendar for the next month by the date in Schedule 1. The Client has three working days to approve or give one consolidated set of comments. If the Client does not reply in that window, the Manager may treat the calendar as approved and may post the then-current drafts. Assets or comments received after the window move the affected items to the next available slot, or are quoted as rush work.

In Plain English: you send the month in time. They have three working days. If they go quiet, you post. A late brand asset does not steal your Sunday.

Ad spend is not your fee. Write whose card is charged, who owns the ad account, the monthly cap, and who approves a boost. You do not put media spend on a personal card. Overspend without written approval is not in the retainer. The client pays the platforms; you invoice the management fee.

A working ad-spend clause answers five things:

• Whose money. Client card, client invoicing, or a prepaid wallet the client tops up. Not your debit card.
• Who owns the account. The ad account, pixel and audience lists stay with the client. You are a user, not the owner.
• The cap. A monthly media budget, and whether unused budget rolls.
• Approval. Who can raise a boost, and in writing. A Slack “go on then” is how a £500 test becomes a £5,000 weekend.
• What happens on overspend. You pause. You do not cover the difference.

Those pound figures are examples of how a conversation goes wrong, not prices we charge or recommend.

If the work is a paid creator post rather than a page you run, an influencer agreement sits next to this paper and has its own fee and disclosure slots.

Example

Advertising spend is payable by the Client to the relevant platform, on a Client-owned account, using a Client payment method. The Manager will not place media spend on a personal card. The monthly media cap is the sum in Schedule 1. The Manager will not exceed that cap without the Client’s written approval. Unused media budget does not increase the management fee.

In Plain English: they pay Meta and Google. You never put their ads on your card. The cap is the cap.

Grant access through business roles — Meta Business Manager, Google Ads, TikTok Business — never by sharing a password. Name who is admin. On ending, you hand back admin, revoke your own access, and return assets. Shared logins are how accounts get locked and how two-factor authentication breaks. Write the handover in the paper.

A working access clause answers five things:

• What. Page roles, ad accounts, analytics, scheduling tools, shared drives, password managers.
• Who. Named people, on named business accounts. No shared root password in a WhatsApp chat.
• Privilege. Least privilege for the job. Admin only if you must add other users or change billing.
• Secrets. Where 2FA lives. Who holds the backup codes. Not in a shared note.
• Ending. You return assets and remove yourself. They revoke your access on the end date, or on a material breachmaterial breachA material breach is a serious failure to do what the contract requires, not a minor slip. In England and Wales the phrase is usually a contractual label: the termination clause says a material breach that is not cured in a set time lets the other side end the deal.More in the glossary. See termination and How to end a freelance contract.

Do not hold admin as a hostage for an unpaid invoice. The pause right and the IP line already do that work: no licence, and no duty to post, while an undisputed invoice is overdue. A lockout fight is how a small debt becomes a bigger dispute.

If you are sharing unpublished calendars or brand kits before the deal is signed, put a mutual NDA next to the access list.

Example

The Client will grant the Manager access to the accounts listed in Schedule 1 through business roles on named accounts. The Manager will not request or store account passwords. On ending, or on the Client’s written request, the Manager will remove itself, return assets in the Manager’s control, and the Client will revoke the Manager’s access.

In Plain English: they add you as a user. You never ask for the password. When it ends, you leave and they lock the door.

You do, unless you assign it. CDPA 1988 s.11 makes the author the first owner of freelance copyright. Commissioning posts does not move that. An assignment is not effective unless it is in writing, signed. Paying the invoice does not move title.

Captions and copy are literary works. Photographs and many stills are artistic works. Films and many Reels sit as films. Section 11(1) then says the author is the first owner. The employee exception in s.11(2) applies to employees, not to a social media manager on a contract for services.

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. If the contract is silent, courts 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.

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 and stills. Licensed or assigned on full payment.
• Unused drafts — options they did not pick. Not included unless the paper says so.
• Libraries — templates, swipe files, music you brought, earlier work. Licensed for this job as pre-existing materialspre-existing materialsPre-existing materials are tools, libraries or work the supplier already owned, which are licensed for the job rather than handed over.More in the glossary, 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.

Client-supplied brand 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.

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 sit beside copyright. You have the right to be identified as author and the right not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment. Those rights cannot be assigned. They can be waived in writing, signed by you. See moral rights and usage rights and credit.

Example

Copyright in the content remains with the Manager. On receipt of full payment the Client is granted the licence in Schedule 1 to use the Deliverables on the named platforms for the term set out there. 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 and unused drafts stay with the Manager.

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

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

If you read DMs, comments or analytics that identify people, you are processing personal data for the client. UK GDPR Article 28 requires a binding processor contract that names the subject-matter, duration, nature and purpose, the types of data and the processor terms. The client is usually the controller. Write that in the data protection clause.

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 social processing:

You do not need processor terms for data you control yourself — your own invoices, your own CRM. You do need them for the client’s audience, inbox and identifying analytics.

Do not export follower 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 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. Neither section replaces Article 28.

Example

Where the Manager processes personal data for the Client — including direct messages, comments and analytics that identify a person — that processing is governed by the processor terms in Schedule 2. The Client is the controller. The Manager will not process those data except on the Client’s documented instructions.

In Plain English: their audience is their data. If you open the inbox or the identifying analytics, write the processor paper, not a vibe.

Paid posts and ads usually need a clear disclosure so a reader can tell they are advertising. Write who is responsible for that line — typically the client for their claims, you for posting the agreed label. The influencer agreement has a disclosure slot for paid creator posts. We do not cite an advertising code as a statute.

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 freelance fee.

If the job is a paid creator post rather than a page you run, start from the influencer agreement. That paper already has usage, fee, exclusivity and disclosure slots.

AI-tool use is a contractual disclosure, not a CDPA rule. If the client wants to know whether ChatGPT, Claude or another tool drafted captions, write a yes/no line and what you still reviewed. Do not dress that line up as a statute we cite.

Example

The Client warrants that facts, prices, testimonials and claims it supplies are accurate and that it has the right to use them. The Manager warrants that the Deliverables, except Client materials, are original to the Manager and that the Manager will carry out the services with reasonable care and skill. The Manager does not warrant that Client claims are true. Where Schedule 1 requires an advertising disclosure on a post, the Manager shall include the wording the Client supplies.

In Plain English: they stand behind the product. You stand behind the posting and that the new work is yours. If they asked for a paid-ad label, you put the words they gave you on the post.

A retainer buys a named monthly 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. A project buys a named campaign. Do not mix them. Write the hours or deliverables in the retainer, what happens to unused capacity, and how extra work is quoted. A retainer is the usual monthly paper. A one-off launch sits on a freelancer agreement or a statement of work.

A depositdepositA deposit is money paid up front, before the main work or the final invoice.More in the glossary of 30–50% on signature, with work paused until it lands, is the usual freelance shape for a project. A retainer often invoices monthly in advance. There is no default UK right to keep a deposit; both sides have to agree it. See cancellation and kill fee and Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?.

Those percentages are examples, not a statutory rate.

Example

The Fee is a monthly retainer for the Deliverables in Schedule 1. Unused items in a month do not roll unless Schedule 1 says so. Work outside Schedule 1 is quoted and agreed in writing before it starts. The first invoice is due on signature. Later invoices are due on the first working day of each month, in advance.

In Plain English: they buy this month’s list. Leftovers do not pile up unless you wrote that. A launch week is extra.

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 Manager may pause work, including posting and advertising management, 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 posting. They do not own unpaid content. A business client can owe the statutory interest and the fixed recovery sum.

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

Write 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 that both sides can use. Thirty days after an initial three months is a common freelance shape, not a statutory rule. On ending, access is revoked, unused content stays yours unless paid, and handover happens on the end date. See How to end a freelance contract.

A working ending clause answers four things:

• Minimum term. How long both sides are in before ordinary notice can bite.
• Notice. How many days, how it is given, and whether it can be used by either side. See notices.
• Cause. Material breach, with a cure periodcure periodA cure period is a window, after notice of breach, in which the defaulting party may put the breach right before termination for cause can follow. It is a contractual device, not an automatic common-law right. Serious or irremediable breaches are often carved out. Write how notice is served and when the clock starts.More in the glossary if you want one, sits next to convenience notice. See termination and termination for conveniencetermination for convenienceTermination for convenience means one side can end the contract without claiming the other side did something wrong, usually after giving notice.More in the glossary.
• Handover. Admin back, assets back, unused drafts stay yours, paid finals follow the licence.

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.

Do not hold the accounts hostage. The pause right and the IP line already protect unpaid work.

Example

This agreement has a minimum term of three months from the start date. After that, either party may end it on 30 days’ written notice. On the end date the Manager will remove itself from the accounts in Schedule 1 and return assets in the Manager’s control. Unused drafts stay with the Manager. Licences already granted for paid Deliverables continue on the terms of Schedule 1.

In Plain English: three months in. Then a month’s notice. You leave the accounts. They keep what they paid for. You keep what they did not.

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 autonomy, a genuine substitution right and no promise of further work — and then work that way. The longer page is IR35 contract clauses checklist.

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 deliver the agreed monthly outcome. The client sets the brand, the outcomes and reasonable approval 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 month 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. A substitution clause the client would never allow in practice will not carry the status. Sitting in their marketing stand-up every morning, using only their laptop, and having no substitute, will not be rescued by a contractor heading. Put substitution in the assignment and subcontracting clause of an independent contractor agreement or freelancer agreement, not in a side email.

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

This page does not invent wording beyond the IR35 checklist.

Example

The Manager decides how to deliver the agreed monthly outcome. The Client may set brand rules, outcomes, deadlines and reasonable approval rules, not day-to-day methods. The Manager may send a suitably qualified substitute, paid by the Manager. Each month 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 month is this month — 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 social media manager agreement, so the platforms, the ad-spend line and the handover 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 freelancer agreement or a services agreement. A monthly slot sits on a retainer. A paid creator post can sit next to an influencer agreement. You can also start from the AI contract generator or the contract generator. If you are sharing unpublished calendars 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 ad-spend line and the access handover 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 social job in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign before the first post.

Contracts for social media managers is the wider set of terms that sit around this paper. Contracts for copywriters is the copy sibling. Contracts for agencies is the campaign sibling. NDA for UK freelancers is the pitch-stage paper. Should I start work before the contract is signed? is the day-one rule.