Subcontractor Agreement

Appoint a subcontractor to deliver part of a contract you hold with your own client, with flow-down terms, payment, CIS and Construction Act options.

Editable Word document
18
10pages
Guidance notes included
aml consultancy solutions

Contracts & terms

Subcontractor Agreement

About this document

What it’s for

An agreement for passing part of a contract you hold with your own customer (the End Client) to a subcontractor. It flows down your key obligations, protects your client relationship and covers price, payment, defects, insurance, liability and termination, with options for construction work under the Construction Act and the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).

When to use it

  • When subcontracting services such as IT, facilities, marketing or engineering
  • When subcontracting construction work (keep the options in clauses 7 and 17)
  • Check first that your main contract allows subcontracting

What’s inside

The document is laid out in the sections below. Each one comes with a plain-English guidance note explaining what it does and what to change.

  1. Definitions and interpretation
  2. Appointment and term
  3. The Main Contract and flow-down
  4. Performance of the Subcontract Services
  5. Variations
  6. Contractor’s obligations
  7. Price and payment
  8. Defects and remedies
  9. Protection of the Contractor’s relationship with the End Client
  10. Confidentiality and intellectual property
  11. Data protection
  12. Insurance
  13. Liability and indemnities
  14. Suspension and termination
  15. Consequences of termination
  16. Compliance
  17. Disputes
  18. General
  19. Governing law and jurisdiction

Also included

  • Programme
  • Subcontract Price and payment

How to complete it

  • List the main contract obligations that must flow down in Schedule 2
  • Describe the services, programme and price in Schedule 1
  • For construction work, verify CIS status and complete Schedule 3

Key points to check

  • “Pay when paid” is generally void in construction contracts
  • HMRC has stronger powers from April 2026 over CIS fraud in supply chains
  • Keep the subcontractor’s liability back-to-back with yours

Our templates are professionally structured starting points for UK businesses, not legal advice. For anything complex, unusual or high-value, have your final version checked by a solicitor.

Included in the pack

Contracts & terms

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Editable Microsoft Word files

Guidance notes in every document

Written for UK businesses

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