What should a UK translator contract include?

A UK translator contract should name the parties, the language pair and purpose, source and delivery format, quote versus estimate, revisions, unused booked time, confidentiality, who owns the translation, whether another linguist or MT+PE will produce the work, a liability cap, and late payment. Sign it before the source is opened.

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 translate 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 translation-contract-only template on Contracts.io. Start from a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. Repeat work can hang a statement of work under standing terms. A monthly slot sits on a retainer. Company-to-company contractor work can start from an independent contractor agreement. If another linguist will produce the work, a subcontractor agreement sits next to it. If you are sharing unpublished source before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it. Contracts for translators is the shorter audience page. What goes in a freelance or contractor agreement is the shorter how-to. What should a UK copywriter contract include? is the words sibling.

The Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) Code of Professional Conduct tells members to make reasonable attempts to establish a written agreement covering scope, deliverables, timelines and terms of business before work starts. That is professional practice, not a statute. We do not invent ITI clause numbers.

Twelve blocks finish this paper:

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

Name the language pair, the source format, the purpose, the word-count or hourly basis, the deadline and the delivery format. “Translation” is not a list. “EN→FR, 4,200 source words, for publication, bilingual DOCX by Friday 17:00 UK” is a list. Extra languages, a new purpose and a new file are a change of scope, quoted first.

Write six things:

• Language pair. Source and target. Direction matters. EN→DE is not DE→EN.
• Purpose / use. For publication, for information, for a court bundle, for a website, for gisting. Purpose changes the work.
• Source format. DOCX, PDF, InDesign, scanned image, audio. A locked PDF is not the same job as an editable file.
• Delivery format. Clean target, bilingual table, XLIFF, or a named CAT package. Name whether a translation memory or glossary is supplied and what is returned.
• Deadline. 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. Copywriting, transcreation, typesetting, interpreting, and a second language pair.

Word count and hourly are both valid bases. Write which one, and whether words are counted in the source or the target. Do not invent a per-word rate here; the fee is what you both agreed.

Example

The Translator will translate the Source Material described 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 from English (UK) into German for publication on the Client’s website. Delivery is a bilingual DOCX by 17:00 UK time on the date in Schedule 1. Copywriting, transcreation, typesetting and a second language pair are out of scope and will be quoted first.

In Plain English: they get the named pair, the named file and the named format. A new purpose or a new file is a new quote.

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

A fixed quote is the fee after you have seen or heard the source and have firm instructions. An estimate is guidance only; it is not a contract price. Write which figure you are giving. That is common UK translator practice, in the style of ITI model terms — not a statute, and not a clause number we invent.

The split is practical:

• Estimate. Given from a description, a word-count guess or a sample. Guidance only. Not the price.
• Fixed quote. Given after you have seen or heard all the source and have clear written instructions. This is the price, for a stated period.
• Wrong description. If the client’s description of the file is materially inadequate or inaccurate, the fee can be amended by agreement once you have opened it.
• How long a quote holds. A common shape is thirty days, then it may be revised. That is practice, not a statutory cooling-off.

The ITI Code of Professional Conduct asks members to put scope, deliverables, timelines and terms of business in writing before work starts. It does not set a statutory quote rule. We describe the quote-versus-estimate split as practice because that is how UK translators commonly price, not because we have a numbered ITI clause on legislation.gov.uk.

Example

An estimate is given for guidance only and is not a contract price. A fixed quotation is given only after the Translator has seen or heard all the Source Material and has received written instructions. A quotation remains valid for 30 days from the date it is given. If the Client’s description of the Source Material is materially inadequate or inaccurate, the fee may be amended by written agreement once the Translator has seen the file.

In Plain English: a guess from an email is not the price. The price is the quote after you have opened the file. A bad description can reopen the number.

Do not leave “as discussed” as the fee. Put the figure, the basis and the word “quote” or “estimate” on the paper you both sign.

Write the fee, the basis, 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 client, 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 — per source word, per target word, hourly, or a named day;
• whether VAT is extra;
• when invoices go out — on delivery, on acceptance, 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;
• that any 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 or assignment passes only on full payment.

A deposit before booked days are 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. 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 Translator is VAT-registered. Each undisputed invoice is due within 14 days of its date. The Translator may pause work while any undisputed invoice is more than 7 days overdue. Copyright and any licence to use the Translation 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. They do not own an unpaid translation. 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 what a revision round is, what “accepted” looks like, and what happens if the source hides a difficulty neither side could reasonably have seen. One round against the agreed source is a common shape, not a statutory rule. A new source, a new purpose or a rewrite of the original is new work, quoted first.

Revisions and acceptance should name:

• What a round is. Consolidated comments on the delivered target, against the agreed source. Not a drip of one-line emails.
• How many. One inclusive round is a common freelance shape. Write the number.
• What is new work. A new source file, a changed purpose, added words, or a request to rewrite the original.
• Acceptance. A short window after delivery — five working days is a common shape, not a statutory period — then the work is accepted if they stay silent.
• Latent difficulties. Illegible scans, hidden text, inconsistent terminology, or a source that is not the language they described. Once you have said so, the fee can be reopened by agreement. That is practice, in the style of ITI model terms, not a statute.

A revision limit only works if you use it. “A few tweaks” is how a 4,000-word job becomes a rewrite.

Example

The fee includes one round of revisions against the agreed Source Material. Comments must be consolidated and sent within five working days of delivery. A new source file, a change of purpose, added words or a request to rewrite the source is new work and will be quoted first. If the Source Material presents latent special difficulties of which neither party could reasonably have been aware at offer and acceptanceoffer and acceptanceOffer and acceptance is how a bargain is formed in England and Wales: one side makes a clear offer and the other accepts the same terms. A counter-offer kills the original offer. A price list or advert is usually only an invitation to treat. Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co [1893] 1 QB 256 is the classic case.More in the glossary, the fee may be renegotiated, provided the Translator tells the Client as soon as reasonably practical after they become apparent. Silence after five working days is acceptance.

In Plain English: they get one pass on the file you both agreed. A new file is a new quote. If the source hides a problem neither of you could have seen, you say so and reopen the number.

Scope creep and change control is the longer page for extras that arrive after signature.

Write the notice both sides use to cancel booked days, what happens to unused time, 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 job. 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. 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 days;
• short-notice cancellation of reserved days 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;
• no pause of the diary without an agreed rewrite of the deadline.

For a business client 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 Client cancels reserved dates on less than 48 hours’ notice, those dates are charged. If the Client ends the job after work has started, the Translator is due the work done at the agreed rate plus the unused-time charge in Schedule 1. There is no default right to keep a deposit beyond what this clause says.

In Plain English: unused booked days are charged if you wrote that. Starting the file and then stopping still costs them the work done and the named kill fee.

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

Source text, translation memories, glossaries and the fact of the job stay private. Write the usual limits: a court order, or what the client has already made public. 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 opening unpublished source before the deal is signed, put a mutual NDA next to it.

Confidentiality on the translation agreement should name:

• the source, the translation, any translation memory and any glossary;
• how long the duty lasts — the life of the source’s 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 client in a portfolio. Many legal, medical and tender jobs say no.

That is practice, not a statute we invent. The ITI Code of Professional Conduct expects members to keep client affairs confidential. We do not invent a numbered ITI clause for that duty.

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 client sends before they will show the file is common. Read it. A clause that assigns copyright in the translation, 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 Translator will keep the Source Material, the Translation, any translation memory and any glossary confidential, 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 Translator’s breach. This duty survives delivery. Portfolio use of the Client’s name is not included unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: the file stays in the job. You do not put their name on your site unless they said you could.

Contracts for translators is the shorter page around this paper.

You do, unless you assign it. CDPA 1988 s.11 makes the author the first owner of freelance copyright. A translation is a literary work. An assignment is not effective unless it is in writing, signed. Paying the invoice does not move title. The client’s source text is a separate copyright; commissioning a translation does not move that either.

The employee exception in s.11(2) applies to employees, not to a translator on a contract for services. If the contract is silent, a court may find a limited implied licence for the purpose of the commission. That is not ownership. Silence is how a target text becomes their product brochure 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.

The client should warrant they have the right to have the source translated. You translate; you do not clear the original author’s rights. That is practice. We do not invent a third-party infringement holding.

Keep three piles:

• This translation — the target text for this job. Licensed or assigned on full payment.
• Memories and glossaries — what you built or brought. Licensed for this engagement as pre-existing materials, not assigned, unless you sold a TM.
• Unused drafts — stay yours.

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 Translation remains with the Translator. On receipt of full payment the Client is granted the licence in Schedule 1 to use the Translation for the purpose named in that Schedule. Until then the Client has no licence to copy, publish, communicate or adapt it. Assignment of copyright is not included unless Schedule 1 says so. Translation memories, glossaries and unused drafts stay with the Translator. The Client warrants it has the right to commission the translation of the Source Material.

In Plain English: they may use the named target text for the named purpose once they have paid. They do not own your memory. A buyout is extra. They promised they were allowed to have the source translated.

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

Licence the named use unless they must own the target text. An assignment is a buyout: writing, signed, on full payment. A licence is permission. Most commercial jobs need a licence of the purpose they named — website, product, court bundle — not a transfer of the copyright. 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.

Moral rights sit next to the economic rights. The author of a copyright literary work 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. A credit line is practice; a waiver is a signed paper, not a heading.

Example

On full payment the Client is granted a non-exclusive licence to use the Translation for the purpose, territory and duration in Schedule 1. The licence is not assignable. Assignment of copyright is not included. The Translator does not waive moral rights unless Schedule 1 attaches a signed waiver.

In Plain English: they can use the target text for the named job once they have paid. They cannot sell the copyright on. A credit stays unless you signed it away.

Contracts for copywriters is the words sibling for the same licence-versus-assignment split.

Disclose when another person, or machine translation plus post-edit, produces the work. The client is buying a named linguist’s work unless you said otherwise. Write who will do it, and that undisclosed substitution is a breach. That is practice, not a statute we invent.

Three shapes:

• You do the work. Your name is on the paper. No hidden second linguist. No undisclosed machine translation plus post-edit.
• Another linguist. Name them, or name that a qualified substitute may be used with written notice. Put a subcontractor agreement between you and them. See assignment and subcontracting.
• Machine translation plus post-edit (MT+PE). Say so. Raw machine output and a human post-edit are not the same service as a human translation. The fee, the quality and the purpose all change.

The ITI Code of Professional Conduct tells members not to materially alter or omit the meaning of the source, and to disclose conflicts. We do not invent an ITI machine-translation clause. The disclosure line is the honest paper: the client knows who, or what, produced the target.

Example

The Translator will perform the Translation personally unless Schedule 1 names a substitute linguist or states that machine translation plus post-edit will be used. The Translator will not subcontract or use machine translation plus post-edit without the Client’s written agreement. Where a substitute is agreed, the Translator remains responsible for the work delivered to the Client.

In Plain English: they are buying your work unless you both wrote that someone else, or a machine plus a post-editor, will do it. If you hire someone, you still stand behind the delivery.

A subcontractor agreement is the paper between you and the other linguist. Do not send the client’s source to a third party on a handshake.

Your own invoices, emails and client records are typically data you control. UK GDPR Article 28 applies when you process personal data for a client organisation — names, HR files, medical notes or customer records in the source. 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 and booking records. That is your business data.
• Processor. You translate a file the client gave you that identifies employees, patients or customers. 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.

Write where the file lives, who can open it, whether a translation memory will store personal data, and what you delete or return on handover. Do not put a medical or HR source through an undisclosed machine-translation tool.

Example

Where the Source Material contains personal data, the Client is the controller and the Translator is the processor. Processing is governed by this clause and is limited to producing the Translation. The Translator will not engage a sub-processor, including a machine-translation provider, without the Client’s written authorisation. On request at the end of the job the Translator will delete or return the Source Material and any copies that contain personal data, except where the Translator must keep a copy to meet a legal obligation.

In Plain English: their employee file is their data. You translate it, you do not keep it, and you do not feed it to a tool they did not agree.

This is B2B framing for a company client. An individual sending their own birth certificate is usually giving you data they control; you still keep it confidential. We do not invent a consumer-controller statute beyond confidentiality and the 2013 Regulations on the next heading.

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 commercial translation 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 personal translation — a certificate, a letter, a memoir — 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. Section 49 says a trader supplying a service must do so with reasonable care and skill.

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 booked a certificate translation online has two weeks to walk away. A company buying a product manual does not get that statutory cooling-off.

IR35 only matters when you translate into an organisation as a contractor through your company. It does not apply to a private individual buying a certificate translation. 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 translation is done;
• you can send a qualified substitute, and you have actually used one or can;
• there is no obligation on them to offer further files, and none on you to accept them;
• you use your own tools;
• 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.

Example

The Translator is an independent contractor. The Translator decides how the Translation is performed, may send a qualified substitute, and is not obliged to accept further work. Nothing in this agreement makes the Translator an employee, worker or agent of the Client. The parties will work in line with any status determination statement the Client 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 client has to give you their determination.

Most direct-to-consumer certificate work never reaches this heading. Most agency-to-freelancer jobs still should, because the end client is often an organisation.

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 regulator will accept the target text, or that a court will prefer your wording. See the longer liability guide.

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

• caps the translator’s total liability at the fees paid for that job, 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 translation” on a product-liability or medical file without pricing that risk. How a freelancer caps liability is the longer page.

Example

The Translator’s total liability under this agreement is capped at the fees paid for the Translation. Nothing in this agreement excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. The Translator does not warrant that a regulator, court or authority will accept the Translation.

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.

Contracts for consultants is the sibling page when the work is advice rather than a target text.

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 translation agreement, so the language pair, the quote line and the ownership of the target text 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. Repeat work can hang a statement of work under standing terms. 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 source 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 quote-versus-estimate line, the 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 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 translation job in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign before the source is opened.

Contracts for translators is the wider set of terms that sit around this paper. Contracts for copywriters is the words sibling. Contracts for freelancers is the delivery sibling. Contracts for agencies is the language-service 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.