What should a client agreement say?

Nobody reads an agreement until something has gone wrong. A client cancels an hour before, or a project doubles in size, or a package runs out with three sessions left. In that moment the agreement is the only thing that says what you both expected. Write it for that moment.

The five things

1. 1

   What they get

   A session is 50 minutes by video. A project is a brand and a logo in two rounds. Say the size of it, so “more” has something to be more than.

2. 2

   When

   Dates, a window to use a package in, a delivery date for a project. A thing with no end has no point where it’s finished.

3. 3

   How much, and when it’s paid

   The price, and whether it’s paid at booking, in two parts or on an invoice due in fourteen days.

4. 4

   What if either of you cancels

   The window, and what happens inside it. The coaching setup starts at 24 hours, and a therapy practice at 48. Say what happens when you cancel too.

5. 5

   What stays private

   What you keep confidential, and the limits, such as a risk of serious harm. In therapy and health work, your profession may require particular wording.

Shorter gets read

One page, in your own voice, in the order a client needs it. The important sentence goes first: the one about cancellation, which a page can show under its offerings in one line. How do you get a client to read the agreement? has the rest, and five clauses to get right first has the short version.

By kind of work

• Coaching: what a coaching agreement includes, including that coaching isn’t therapy.
• Consulting: the statement of work, which defines the deliverables, and the engagement letter for advice.
• Design and creative work: revision rounds, ownership and the portfolio.

Policies that sit inside it

Cancellation is where most disagreements start. What is a fair cancellation policy? compares the windows by kind of work, and What should your refund policy be? goes offer by offer. In the UK, the 14-day cancellation right applies to most clients who agree online.

On WorkWith, the client types their name to accept your agreement before paying, and the time and the exact words are kept. Edit it later and new bookings get the new version, while anybody who already agreed keeps theirs.

Everything on agreements and policies

• What should a coaching agreement include?

  Seven things: how long a session is and how it’s held, the cancellation window, when payment is due, how long a package lasts, that what’s said stays confidential, that coaching isn’t therapy, and how either of you ends it. All of it fits on one page.

• What should a consulting statement of work include?

  Six things: the deliverables, the dates, what’s out of scope, how a change is priced, how you’re paid, and who on the client’s side signs off. It’s a page or two, written per project, and it sits under your general agreement rather than replacing it.

• What is an engagement letter?

  An engagement letter is a short agreement for advice: what you’re advising on, what you aren’t, how you’re paid, and the limit of your responsibility. Accountants, lawyers and consultants send one before the work starts. It’s a letter, not a contract that reads like one.

• What should a design or creative project agreement say?

  Five things: the deposit that holds the date, how many rounds of revisions are included, who owns the work and when, whether you can show it in your portfolio, and what happens if the client walks away halfway. Revisions and ownership are where the arguments are.

• Do you need a lawyer to write a client agreement?

  Not to start, for most practices of one: a clear template edited to how you work covers a session, a package or a small project. You need a lawyer when the work carries real risk, when the sums are large, when your profession sets rules about wording, or when a client sends you their contract.

• How do you get a client to read the agreement?

  Make it short, put the sentence they’ll care about first, and ask them to accept it before they pay. One page in plain words gets read. Twelve pages of clauses get scrolled past, and the client finds out what they agreed to when it’s too late to matter.

• What is a fair cancellation policy?

  Free to move or cancel up to 24 hours before for most sessions, 48 hours for therapy, and a deposit for anything tied to a date that can’t be resold. Inside the window the session is charged. It’s fair when it’s agreed before booking and you apply it the same way to everyone.

• Should you charge for a no-show?

  Yes, if your agreement says so and the client accepted it before booking. A missed session costs you the hour and the client you could have booked into it. The first time, say it kindly and in writing. If they’ve paid at booking, there’s nothing to chase.

• What do you owe a client who cancels inside the window?

  Nothing, by the agreement: inside the window the session is charged, and that’s what they accepted. You can still refund, and sometimes you should, such as for illness or an emergency. What matters is deciding the same way for the same reasons, so the policy means something.

• What is the UK’s 14-day cancellation right, and does it apply to you?

  In the UK, a consumer who agrees to a service online or by phone can cancel within 14 days and get their money back. If they ask for the service to start sooner, they can still cancel, but pay for what’s been provided. It applies to most practices that take bookings online, and not to business clients.

• What should your refund policy be?

  It depends on what you sell. Sessions follow the cancellation window. Packages refund what’s unused. Files are usually final once downloaded. A course refunds dates not yet held. A monthly retainer stops at the end of the month already paid. Write one line for each offer you have.

• How do you end a client relationship well?

  Say it in writing, say why in a sentence, settle what’s owed both ways, and leave the door open. The ending a client remembers is the last message, not the reason. A clean one means they can come back, or send somebody else, without either of you feeling awkward.

• What happens to package sessions nobody used?

  Whatever your agreement says. There are three choices: they expire at the end of the window, they’re refunded, or the window is extended. Most practices remind the client before the date and give them longer when they ask, because a client who loses three paid sessions to a deadline doesn’t come back.

• What should you keep on file about clients, and for how long?

  Keep what you need to do the work and what tax law asks for, and nothing more. Money records are kept for years: three to seven in the US depending on the case, and at least five years after the filing deadline in the UK. Notes about a person are kept only as long as you need them.

• Is a client’s name beside a therapy appointment health information?

  Often, yes. A name next to the fact that somebody sees a therapist says something about their health. In the US, whether HIPAA applies depends on whether you’re a covered entity, which usually means billing health insurance electronically. Many private-pay practitioners aren’t, but state laws can still apply.

Checked 2026-10-11.