Contractor agreement for a therapist working in a clinic

A self-employed therapist practising from a clinic brings their own registration, insurance and clinical responsibility into premises run by someone else, and the agreement has to settle what is the clinic's and what is the practitioner's: the room and the services, the regulatory responsibility for the treatments, the records of the clients treated, the fees and how they are split, and the control the clinic can exercise without employing the practitioner. I draft that agreement, for the clinic or for the practitioner, for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days. Each engagement is checked against HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool, and the agreement cannot guarantee how an individual's status will be decided.

Who this is for

Clinics, practices and wellbeing centres in England and Wales engaging self-employed physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, counsellors, psychotherapists, nutritionists and other practitioners, and practitioners who want the agreement right before they start.

What matters in a therapist's clinic agreement

The room licence and the clinic's services

The agreement should grant a licence to use a treatment room on stated sessions with the clinic retaining control of the premises so that no tenancy arises under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, and should list the services the clinic provides (reception, bookings, payment handling, laundry, equipment, marketing) and the services the practitioner provides for themselves, because the fee or split is the price of that package and the practitioner should know what it buys.

Regulated activities and who is responsible for them

Where the clinic carries on a regulated activity under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, the clinic as registered provider is responsible to the Care Quality Commission for the service and for the people who deliver it, including self-employed practitioners, under regulation 19 on fit and proper persons; the agreement should say whether the practitioner's work is within the clinic's registration or outside regulated activity, and allocate the clinic's governance requirements (policies, audits, complaints, incident reporting) accordingly. Treatments that are not regulated activities still fall under the practitioner's own professional standards.

Professional registration, insurance and clinical governance

The agreement should require the practitioner to hold and maintain registration with their statutory or professional body, professional indemnity insurance at a stated level that covers the treatments offered, and the training and supervision their profession requires, to comply with the clinic's clinical governance policies, to notify the clinic of any complaint, investigation or restriction, and to practise within their competence; the clinic should hold its own public liability and premises cover and the insurance its registration requires.

Client records and who is controller

Treatment records are special category data under Article 9 of the UK GDPR, and the agreement should say who is controller: the practitioner for their own clinical records, the clinic for bookings and payments, or the clinic for all records where it is the registered provider and the practitioner is delivering its service; the answer decides who answers access requests, who keeps the records for the retention period the profession requires, and what the practitioner takes on leaving. Where the practitioner processes data on the clinic's behalf, the terms Article 28 requires apply, and the duty of confidence attaches to the records whoever holds them.

Fees, splits and the clinic's bookings

The agreement should state the practitioner's fees to clients and who sets them, the clinic's charge (a room fee per session, a percentage of fees, or both), how client payments are taken and accounted for, when the practitioner is paid or pays, and VAT on the clinic's supply where the clinic is registered; where the clinic sets the prices, takes the bookings and pays the practitioner a share, the arrangement is closer to the clinic's service delivered by the practitioner, which affects both the regulatory and the status position, and the agreement should describe which model is in use rather than a mixture.

Control, cover, worker status and leaving

A practitioner who sets their own sessions, decides their own clinical approach, can decline clients, arranges cover and works elsewhere is in business on their own account; one who is rostered, directed and paid per hour is likely to be a worker under section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 whatever the agreement says. The agreement should run on notice with termination for breach, lapsed registration or insurance, or a regulatory restriction, and should say that the practitioner's own clients and, where the practitioner is controller, their records go with the practitioner, with a non-solicitation of clinic-introduced clients for a reasonable period and no restriction on practising elsewhere.

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

Our clinic is CQC registered. Are self-employed practitioners our responsibility?

For regulated activities delivered under the clinic's registration, the clinic is responsible to the regulator for the service and for the people delivering it. The agreement allocates the governance obligations and records whether each practitioner's work is within the registration.

Who owns a practitioner's treatment records when they leave?

Whoever the agreement makes controller. For a self-employed practitioner treating their own clients, usually the practitioner, with the clinic keeping booking and payment records. The agreement decides it before anyone leaves.

Can we take the bookings and set the prices and still treat practitioners as self-employed?

That model points towards the clinic delivering the service through the practitioner, which affects status and regulation. The agreement describes one model or the other, and the facts have to match.

Related guidance and services

• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595
• Contractor agreement for a self-employed beauty therapist
• Terms and conditions for a counsellor or coach in private practice

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.