The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Freelancers
Freelancers make up a substantial part of the arts, screen and creative industries workforce and bring skills, experience, and flexibility to your organisation. Freelancers don’t have the same employment rights and responsibilities as employees. Good management practices and Fair Work for freelancers can have a positive impact on your work and workforce. If you’re a freelancer or an organisation working with freelancers, this section is for you.
Contracts for freelancers
Freelancer contracts (or contracts for services) will be particular to your organisation, but there are some key things you should include:
- Scope of the work or project
- Payment terms
- Intellectual property rights
- Data protection
- Termination
Contract for services (freelancer) template
We've provided a template for you to use. Please follow the instructions within the template to make sure you're amending any parts you need to.
Working with freelancers
Whether you're used to working with freelancers, or this is a new kind of contract for your organisation, here are some of the things you need to think about to ensure you are treating your freelancer legally and fairly.
Fair Work
The Fair Work principles (Security, Effective Voice, Opportunity, Fulfillment and Respect) should benefit all individuals, regardless of their employment status. Creative Scotland have developed a great resource, The Illustrated Freelancer's Guide, to help freelancers understand their rights and navigate challenges such as late payments.
Dispute resolution
Freelancers don't have a right to submit a grievance like employees and workers can, but it's still important that they have a route to deal with any conflicts, should they arise. You can include a clause in their contract detailing how they can do this. An example is included in our template contract for services, which you can download further up this page.