Freelancer agreement for a translation agency

A translation agency sends its clients' documents to freelance translators around the world and sells the translations back, and the agreement with each translator has to carry the client's confidentiality and data protection obligations with the document, assign the copyright in the translation so that the agency can deliver it, set the per-word and per-hour rates and the deadlines the business runs on, and say what the agency expects on tools and machine translation. It also has to reflect a self-employed engagement, which a job-by-job model supports. I draft that agreement, for the agency or for the translator, for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days. Status turns on the facts, is checked with HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool for each engagement, and cannot be guaranteed by any agreement.

Who this is for

Translation, localisation, interpreting and language services agencies in England and Wales engaging freelance translators, editors, subtitlers and linguists, in the UK and abroad, and translators who work for agencies and want the terms to be fair.

What matters in a translation agency freelancer agreement

Jobs, rates and the per-word model

The agreement should be a framework under which the agency offers jobs (source and target language, subject, word count, format, deadline, rate) which the translator may accept or decline, each a separate engagement, with rates per source word, per hour for editing, review and formatting, minimum charges, surcharges for rush and specialist work, how word counts are measured (including matches and repetitions from translation memory where the agency pays reduced rates for them, which should be stated), and the invoicing cycle with payment terms and interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998; translators abroad should have the currency and bank charges addressed.

Copyright in translations and the assignment

A translation is an adaptation of the original work under section 21 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the translator owns the copyright in it as its author, so the agreement should assign the copyright in each translation to the agency on delivery or on payment, in writing under section 90, with moral rights waived, so that the agency can assign or license it to the client; the agency should warrant that it has the client's authority to have the work translated, because translating a copyright work without the owner's licence is itself an infringement, and the translator should warrant originality of their own contribution.

Confidentiality and the client's documents

Clients' documents include contracts, patents, medical records, financial information and unreleased products, and the agreement should impose confidentiality that survives the engagement, prohibit use of the documents for any purpose other than the job, require secure handling and deletion after a stated period, prohibit uploading documents to tools or services the agency has not approved, and flow down any specific confidentiality or security requirements the client has imposed on the agency; the agency's client contracts usually require it to bind its translators, and the agreement is the binding.

Data in the documents and the processor position

Documents contain personal data, and the translator processes it on the agency's behalf as a sub-processor of the agency's client, so the agreement should contain the terms Article 28 of the UK GDPR requires, state security under Article 32, require notification of any breach, and, where the translator is outside the UK, provide a transfer mechanism under Article 46 (the international data transfer agreement or the UK addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses) or confine the translator to a UK-hosted platform so that no transfer occurs; special category data in medical and legal documents needs particular care, and the agreement should say what the translator may retain, which is nothing beyond the job.

Quality, tools and machine translation

The agreement should set the quality standard (fit for the stated purpose, accurate, consistent with glossaries and translation memories supplied, formatted as instructed), the review process and the translator's obligation to correct errors at no charge, the tools the translator must or may use, the agency's ownership of translation memories and glossaries built on its clients' work, and the agency's position on machine translation: whether it is permitted, disclosed or prohibited for a given job, and that the translator remains responsible for the delivered translation whatever tools were used, because the client is buying the translator's judgement.

Status, deadlines and ending

A translator with several agencies and direct clients, their own equipment and software, control over how and when the work is done within the deadline and the right to decline jobs is self-employed, and the agreement should say so, with a right to subcontract parts of a job only with the agency's consent given the confidentiality; where a translator in the UK works through a limited company for a medium or large end client, the off-payroll working rules in Chapter 10 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 can apply through the chain, though job-by-job translation work rarely resembles employment. Deadlines are of the essence for an accepted job, late delivery allows the agency to reduce the fee as the agreement provides, and either side may end the framework on notice with accepted jobs completed.

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

Who owns a translation our freelancer produced?

The translator, as author, until the agreement assigns it to the agency, which it does on delivery or payment so that the agency can deliver ownership to the client. The underlying work remains the client's or its licensor's.

Can our translators use machine translation?

If the agreement permits it for the job, with disclosure where the agency requires it, and never by uploading confidential documents to tools the agency has not approved. The translator remains responsible for the delivered translation either way.

Our translators are in several countries. Can they receive documents with personal data?

With processor terms and a transfer mechanism in place, or through a UK-hosted platform so that the data does not leave. The agreement provides for both routes and the agency chooses by client and document type.

Related guidance and services

• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595, the service this page describes
• Data protection agreements and privacy terms, £795
• Contract review, £495
• 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.