Recurring work

Retainer agreement template for the UK

Monthly scope, rollover rules, notice periods and price reviews — a retainer agreement that gives you predictable recurring revenue.

4.9
|eIDAS · ESIGN · UETA aligned|Free to start

Who it's for

Built for the people who actually use it

Freelancers

Turn ad-hoc work into predictable monthly income.

Agencies & studios

Standardise retainers across the client base.

Consultants

Reserved availability, priced and protected.

What's in the contract

Every clause you actually need

Drafted in plain English by AI, jurisdiction-aware, editable line-by-line. No legalese unless you want it.

Monthly scope

Hours, deliverables or reserved availability each month.

Rollover & expiry

Whether unused hours carry over, and for how long.

Overage rate

The hourly rate once the monthly allocation is used.

Payment in advance

Invoiced monthly in advance by standing order or direct debit.

Minimum term & notice

Initial commitment and rolling notice thereafter.

Price review

Annual review mechanism, often index-linked.

Pausing

Whether the retainer can be paused, and any holding fee.

Priority & response times

What the client gets in return for committing.

How it works

From blank page to signed PDF in 3 steps

Describe in plain English

Tell SigningVault who's involved and what you're agreeing. The AI drafts the right contract with the right clauses.

Tweak in seconds

Edit any line, swap clauses, change jurisdiction. Add signature fields with a click.

Send & sign

Recipients get a private signing link by email. They sign in-browser — no account, no app. You both get the sealed PDF.

Legal & compliance

Making UK retainers stick

Retainers work when both sides know exactly what the monthly fee buys. Setting out the allocation, whether it rolls over, and the overage rate prevents the slow expansion of scope that erodes margin on long-running engagements.

Signatures captured on SigningVault are Simple Electronic Signatures under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and the UK eIDAS Regulation. Every signature is stored with the signer's name, email, IP address and a UTC timestamp in a tamper-evident audit trail, so the agreement stands up if it is ever challenged.

  • Legally binding in England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
  • Tamper-evident audit trail with IP address and UTC timestamp
  • Signed PDF and certificate of completion for both parties
  • Fully editable — change any clause before you send it

FAQ

Common questions

Should unused retainer hours roll over?+

Usually not, or only into the next month. Unlimited rollover creates a large unfunded liability, and the template lets you set the rule explicitly.

What notice period should a retainer have?+

Thirty days is standard for smaller retainers; sixty to ninety days is common where you reserve significant capacity.

Should retainers be paid in advance?+

Yes. Invoicing monthly in advance is the UK norm for retained services and is the template default.

How do I raise prices?+

The price review clause allows an annual increase on written notice, optionally linked to CPI.

Draft yours in under 60 seconds

No credit card. No templates to wade through. Just describe the agreement and SigningVault writes it.