Contractor agreement for a copywriter

A copywriter produces words the business will publish under its own name, and the agreement has to settle who owns them, who is responsible when they are wrong, and how much rewriting the fee includes. It also has to deal with sources and originality, the pay and the cancelled job, and reflect a self-employed engagement. I draft that agreement, for the business or for the writer, for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days. The agreement describes a self-employed engagement; HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool decides status case by case, and no drafting guarantees it.

Who this is for

Businesses and agencies in England and Wales engaging freelance copywriters, content writers, editors and ghostwriters, and writers who want an agreement they can use with every client.

What matters in a copywriter's agreement

The brief, word counts and revisions

The agreement should define each job by a brief: the pieces, their purpose and audience, word counts, tone and format, the research or interviews required, the deadline, the client's responsibilities (information, access to people, feedback by dates) and the rounds of revision included, with a rate for revisions beyond them and for changes to the brief; a client who rewrites the brief after the first draft has commissioned a second piece.

Intellectual property, moral rights and the assignment

Section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 makes the writer the first owner of the copy, and it stays theirs until a signed assignment under section 90 moves it, so the agreement transfers the rights in the final delivered copy to the business once paid for, with the moral rights in section 77 and following waived so that the business can edit and publish without naming the writer (which is what ghostwriting is), the writer's research notes and unused drafts retained, and the writer free to reuse general knowledge and expressions; where the writer licenses rather than assigns (a column, a recurring feature), the scope should be stated.

Accuracy, claims and the business's responsibility

The writer should take reasonable care over facts and should flag claims that need substantiation, but the business approves and publishes the copy and is responsible for it: for the accuracy of claims about its products under Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and the advertising codes, for regulatory wording in sectors such as financial services and health, and for defamation and other liabilities arising from publication; the agreement should say so, with the writer's liability capped at the fee and the business indemnifying the writer for claims arising from material the business supplied or approved.

Research, sources and plagiarism

The agreement should require the writer to produce original work, not to copy from sources without permission or attribution as the brief allows, to identify quotations and third-party material so that the business can clear it, and to warrant that the copy does not infringe third-party copyright to the writer's knowledge, with the warranty excluding material the business supplied; where the writer uses tools to assist drafting, the agreement can require the writer to disclose it if the business wants to know, and the writer remains responsible for the originality and accuracy of what is delivered.

Pay, kill fees and rush rates

The agreement should state the fee (per piece, per word, per day or per project), a deposit for larger jobs, payment on delivery with interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, a rush rate for short deadlines, approved expenses, and a cancellation charge of a stated proportion where the business pulls a job after writing has begun, the rights in the unfinished copy staying with the writer unless it is paid for; late feedback from the business should not extend the writer's obligation indefinitely.

Status, confidentiality and ending

Several clients, their own equipment, control over how and when the writing is done and the freedom to turn jobs down make a writer self-employed, and the agreement records those features; a writer invoicing through a company to a medium or large client is within the off-payroll regime in Chapter 10 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, under which the client decides status; the writer keeps the business's unpublished plans and information confidential, may name the business as a client and show published work in a portfolio unless the business objects, and either side may end on notice with payment for work done, liability capped at the fee under section 11 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

What it costs

Consultancy or contractor agreement, £595. Drafted for your business. Five working days.

Template set for repeat use, £895. One master agreement plus a short-form schedule you can reuse for every engagement. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the consultancy and contractor agreements 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 clear, express assignment of intellectual property to your business
• Confidentiality provisions that protect your business information
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Clear treatment of status, so the arrangement is not accidentally something else
• Payment, deliverables and termination provisions that match how you work
• A reusable structure, so the next engagement costs you nothing

What is not included

• Employment status determinations and off-payroll working assessments, which need your accountant
• Tax advice
• Disputes with a contractor you have already engaged
• Immigration and right to work compliance

Questions I am often asked

Can we publish the copy under our CEO's name?

If the agreement assigns the copyright and waives the writer's moral rights, yes. Ghostwriting depends on the waiver, and the agreement includes it.

The copy contained a claim that turned out to be wrong. Who is liable?

The business, as the publisher that approved it, unless the writer invented the claim without a source. The agreement makes the writer flag claims needing substantiation and the business responsible for what it publishes, with the writer's liability capped at the fee.

Can the writer reuse our copy for another client?

Not the copy assigned to the business. The writer keeps general knowledge, their research notes and their own methods, and the agreement draws that line.

Related guidance and services

• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595
• Terms and conditions for a freelance copywriter
• Freelancer agreement for a marketing agency

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