Terms and conditions for a career coach

A career coach sells an outcome nobody can promise, often to someone who has just lost their job, and sometimes on an employer's budget. Your terms need to deal with prepaid packages, missed sessions, what you do and do not advise on, and who the client actually is when an employer is paying. I draft those terms for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Independent career coaches, CV and LinkedIn specialists, interview coaches, outplacement providers and executive career consultants in England and Wales. Most sell to individuals, who are consumers and have rights they cannot sign away, and also invoice employers for outplacement or internal coaching, which is a business contract on quite different terms. One document can carry both if it is written to.

What matters in a career coach's terms

Who the client is when an employer pays

Outplacement and employer-funded coaching create a triangle: the company pays, the individual sits in the session, and each expects something different. The terms should say who contracts with you, what the employer is entitled to be told, and what stays between you and the person being coached. Most coaches report attendance and nothing more, and that needs writing down before the HR director rings for a progress update. Employer invoices are commercial debts, so interest and fixed compensation on late payment are available under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

Packages, rescheduling and unused sessions

Coaching is usually sold as a package paid up front, which is where the disputes start. The client who lands a role early wants their money back, and the client who goes quiet for weeks wants the balance honoured long afterwards. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a term that lets you keep a prepayment without a matching obligation on you, or that imposes a disproportionate charge for a missed appointment, sits on the grey list of terms likely to be unfair. The workable answer is a stated notice period for rescheduling, a validity period for unused sessions and a late cancellation charge you can justify against the slot you held.

Signing up online and the cancellation period

Most career coaching is agreed by email, video call or a booking page, which makes it a distance contract under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. The client has fourteen days to cancel. To start the first session inside that window you need their express request, and if they then cancel they pay a proportionate amount for what has been delivered. Downloadable workbooks, recorded modules and assessment portals are digital content and may only be supplied in the period with express consent and an acknowledgement that the cancellation right is lost. Missing cancellation information can extend the period by up to twelve months.

Where the coaching stops

Career conversations drift. A redundancy consultation becomes a question about whether the process is lawful, a settlement offer arrives in the client's inbox, and the coach who answers ends up owning the answer. The terms should state plainly that you provide coaching and career strategy, not legal, tax, financial or clinical advice, and that any referral to a solicitor, recruiter or therapist is an introduction rather than a recommendation you stand behind. You must still perform the coaching with reasonable care and skill, and against a consumer you cannot limit your liability for the service to less than the price paid.

Outcomes, testimonials and the headline price

The one thing a career coach cannot promise is a job offer, and the client who does not get one will reread your website before they reread your terms. Set out what you deliver, the sessions, the materials, the review of applications, and say that results depend on the market and on the client's own effort. Your marketing has to match. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 fake reviews and drip pricing are banned practices and the Competition and Markets Authority can enforce consumer law directly, so the price a consumer first sees must include every mandatory charge, including any assessment fee you pass on.

CVs, materials and confidentiality

You produce documents for clients: a rewritten CV, a LinkedIn profile, an interview framework, a set of exercises. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 work created by a contractor stays with the contractor unless it is assigned in writing, so the terms should give the client a clear licence to use their own CV and application materials while keeping your models, workbooks and frameworks yours to reuse. Confidentiality should run both ways, cover the salary, appraisal and grievance detail clients disclose, and address recording of sessions, which someone will do on a video call whether or not you agreed to it.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

The employer is paying. Do I need a separate contract?

One document can carry a corporate section dealing with purchase orders, invoicing, reporting and the employer's cancellation rights, alongside the consumer section for individuals paying for themselves. The trouble comes from sending an individual's terms to an HR department, because the provisions a company will look for, particularly liability, payment and data handling, are not in them.

The client got a job after the first session and wants a refund. Where do I stand?

That depends entirely on what your terms say about a package once it has started. A blanket line refusing all refunds is unlikely to hold against a consumer. Most coaches I act for offer a proportionate refund for sessions not yet delivered, less materials already supplied, or allow the balance to be used later, and say so up front.

Do I need anything extra if I use psychometric or assessment instruments?

Start with the licence you hold from the assessment publisher, because it will restrict who may administer and debrief the instrument and how the report can be shared. Your terms should pass the relevant restrictions on to the client, make clear that a report is one input rather than a verdict, and state whether your fee includes the licence cost.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Data protection agreements and privacy terms, £795
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.