In some cases the clients may want to specify the contractual terms for work – this is true for some project work that will be out for tender, but the freelancer will want to set up his or her own terms and conditions of work with the client. Much of this will be to do with protecting intellectual property rights if a client defaults on payments and other stipulations of ways of working together.

The basic contract should state what it is you are going to do for the client and what this will require from the client in return – i.e. the amount to be paid. This is the simplest agreement though in order to protect you from canny clients keep adding stuff onto the work the actual scope of the project should be defined and the time frame involved. If the client adds work then it should be clear that this will need to be formally requested and costed and added to the contract. Sorting this at the outset can save a lot of unpleasant wrangling.

The contract should make clear you are an independent contractor and not an employee (avoid IR35 problems) and also specify any agreed payment schedule for a larger project (most small projects are paid on completion). To protect your intellectual property rights you may wish to specify that the design rights stay with the freelancer until final payment is made. If the client wants to start using the design from the outset you may need some specialist advice about adding to the contracts leasing the rights until the project is finished.