Life Coach Agreement UK — What to Include and How to Protect Your Practice
Coaching is unregulated in the UK. Anyone can call themselves a coach, charge for sessions, and work with clients without any formal oversight. That makes the coaching agreement your primary protection — it defines what coaching is and isn't, sets expectations, and gives you legal recourse when a client disputes a charge or claims the coaching "didn't work".
Why coaching agreements matter more in an unregulated profession
Because coaching is unregulated, you don't have a professional body to appeal to or a regulatory framework that automatically defines your obligations. The contract you sign with each client is the entire legal framework of your relationship. It needs to be clear about what coaching is, what it isn't, and what outcomes it can and cannot guarantee.
What to include in a coaching agreement
Definition of coaching
Your agreement should explicitly state that coaching is a professional relationship focused on personal and professional development, and that it is not therapy, counselling, mentoring, or consulting. This protects you if a client later claims the coaching should have addressed a clinical mental health issue, or if they argue you gave specific professional advice (tax, legal, medical) that you weren't qualified to give.
If a client later claims they were emotionally distressed and that your coaching made it worse, the absence of a clear boundary between coaching and therapy in your agreement makes your position significantly weaker. A well-drafted agreement clarifies this upfront and includes a clause about when coaching should be paused to recommend professional support.
Scope and format
Specify how sessions work: duration, frequency, format (video, phone, in-person), whether sessions can be recorded, and how the coaching relationship is structured. If you offer packages (6-session programme, 12-week course), define what's included and whether unused sessions expire.
Fees and payment terms
State your rate, payment schedule, and what happens if a payment is missed. Coaching packages often involve upfront payment or monthly instalments — both have different implications if a client wants to cancel partway through. Address this clearly rather than discovering the ambiguity when a client asks for a refund.
Confidentiality
Coaching conversations are confidential — but not unconditionally. Your confidentiality clause needs to specify the exceptions: if a client discloses something that suggests risk of harm to themselves or others, you may be obligated to break confidentiality. This is not optional and needs to be documented so clients understand the limits before they start.
Session terms and communication boundaries
One of the most common sources of tension in coaching relationships is unclear expectations about between-session access. Can a client email you questions between sessions? How quickly do you respond? Do you offer WhatsApp support? A session terms document covers these practicalities.
It should also address rescheduling: how much notice a client must give to rearrange a session, what happens to a session that's rescheduled twice, and whether sessions missed without notice are forfeited or rolled over.
Refund policy — the most disputed clause
The most common dispute in coaching is a client who buys a package, does two or three sessions, then wants a refund for the remaining sessions because the "coaching isn't working". Without a clear refund policy, you have no defensible position.
What makes a refund policy enforceable
Under UK consumer law, if you provide services to individuals (not businesses), clients have a 14-day right to cancel from the date of signing the contract. If coaching sessions start within those 14 days and the client waives the cooling-off period, they lose the statutory right to a full refund. Document this clearly.
Beyond the statutory period, your refund policy is largely what you make it — provided it's clearly stated and the client agreed to it before paying. "No refunds on packages after the second session" is enforceable if it was disclosed upfront. Discovering the policy only when the client wants a refund is not enforceable in the same way.
Client onboarding questionnaire
A structured onboarding form before the first session saves significant time and helps you deliver better coaching from the start. It should capture: the client's goals and what they want from coaching, relevant background context they want you to understand, their coaching style preferences, anything they're not willing to work on, and their definition of success.
This isn't just administratively useful — it's a coaching tool in itself. The act of completing the questionnaire helps clients clarify what they actually want before they arrive.
All documents, ready in under 2 minutes
Coaching Agreement, Session Terms, Refund Policy, Onboarding Questionnaire, and Confidentiality Clause — with autofill so you enter your details once and every document updates.
Get the full pack — £29/yr →ICF and EMCC membership — what it means for your contracts
Membership of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) or the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) is voluntary in the UK. These bodies have ethical codes and competency frameworks, but they don't replace your legal obligations under UK contract law, data protection law, or consumer rights legislation.
If you're a member of either body, it's worth referencing their ethical framework in your agreement — but don't rely on it as a substitute for clear contractual terms. A client can't sue you under the ICF code of ethics; they can sue you under a contract.
GDPR considerations for coaching practices
You collect and store significant personal data about your clients — health history, relationship details, career information, psychological insights. Under UK GDPR, you need a lawful basis for processing this data. Consent is appropriate for coaching, but it must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. A coaching agreement that includes a data protection clause, signed by the client, satisfies this requirement.