These service contracts are sharp and clear. For the executive director involved in the day to day management of the company, employment terms have been combined with provisions that provide additional protection for the company required for someone at the most senior level of the management structure. Our set also includes more traditional service agreements for self-employed, non-executive directors and for an unpaid 'non-exec', as may be needed by a charity.
Templates
Directors service agreement (employment contract)
13 Reviews
This document is a complete legal and practical framework for the employment of any executive director.
It balances protection for the director with protection for the company. If there is a difference in interests, the document favours the company, often because these provisions are required to comply with the law.
The document is suitable for:
- any executive director (including a Managing Director, CEO, CFO, CTO or Chairman) of any company
- senior management of charities and NGOs
- directors employed full or part time, on running contracts or fixed terms
Strong and precise terms protect the company’s intellectual property and other secrets.
All common perquisites such as salary and benefits are covered.
The explanatory notes, which come with these documents, will guide you as to the importance of specific issues.
Non-executive director's service agreement
8 Reviews
This non-executive director's service agreement makes clear that the contract is not of employment, but for services - similar to a consultancy agreement.
It will help to protect the board from criticism and the director from unreasonable demands.
This document is suitable for:
- for any non-executive, part-time company director, or director-level equivalent in a charity or other organisation
- fixed terms of appointment or rolling contracts
- the whole question of the tax status of a non-executive depends on the other activities of the director. Nothing we provide in this contract will guarantee that HMR&C will treat her/him as self employed.
This document is:
- Up to date with the latest changes in company law
- The employer's confidential information is protected, but in order to emphasise the self employed status of the director, this version does not cover every obligation of the director in the same way that an executive director contract does. It is assumed that a non-executive is expected to work in a rather more informal environment
- Structured so as to minimise the administrative burden of legal compliance
Unpaid non-executive director's service agreement
3 Reviews
This is a contract for services for an unpaid, part-time director who provides advice, balance and support to the organisation on a voluntary basis.
The document makes clear that there is no contract of employment.
It is suitable for:
- for any non-executive director in a company, or director-level equivalent in a charity or other organisation
- appointments of fixed or rolling terms
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Written in plain English
We avoid legal terminology unless necessary. Plain English makes our documents easy to understand, easy to edit and more likely to be accepted.
Guidance notes included
You don’t need legal knowledge to use our documents. We explain what to edit and how in the guidance notes included at the end of the document.
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Up to date with the latest law
Our documents comply with the latest relevant law. Our lawyers regularly review how new law affects each document in our library.
Clarity about the nature of the contractual relationship
An executive director used to have a service agreement. Today a company is under a statutory obligation to provide written terms of employment, just as it is to any other employee, and even if the director is the sole owner of the company.
A non-executive director is not an employee of the organisation, and therefore requires a contract that preserves their self-employed status and clarifies that the work they perform is in the nature of consultancy rather than executive employment.
Accordingly, the greatest differences between our directors’ service contracts relate not to what position the director holds, or what they do, but to their contractual relationship with the company.
All these agreements are therefore suitable:
- for use by any type of organisation: company, charity, trust, partnership, governmental organisation or other
- for use with directors holding any position within the organisation
- for permanent and fixed terms of appointment
What these agreements cover
In addition to the terms that set out the relationship of employment or self-employment, there are many other matters that should be agreed in a contract.
Our documents:
- are up to date with current applicable employment law
- follow current best practice disciplinary procedures recommended by ACAS and other bodies
- help protect the company from claims both in an industrial tribunal and in court as a result of a common law dispute
- protect the director from unreasonable demands by other directors and shareholders
- set out remuneration and benefits
- cover what happens at termination, and in case of redundancy
- include strong protection for the organisation’s intellectual property
- minimise the administrative burden of legal compliance
Some of the provisions are required to comply with the law. Others are practical. The explanatory notes, which come with these documents, will guide you as to the importance of specific issues.
These contracts provide a balance between protection for the company and for the director. If there is a difference in interests, we favour the company.
What customers thought
We ordered the director's service agreement, the document is really complete and thoughtful, the notes below the document are very useful. Highly recommend.
M Reed
Niels Fischer
Service is clear and easy to use. We really like the way your documents are written, and the notes are clear and helpful.
One way to improve would be to offer a “startup kit” with all the documents a startup might need in one place. Possibly even a flow diagram with them in order that we will need them.
You lean into this a little bit with your Employee Contracts pack, but you could expand this to include everything (Articles of Association, SHA, Directors Service Contracts, Staff Handbook etc...).
We are a start up and we keep buying documents off you piecemeal. A single location with everything we need, in the order we are likely to need it, would make a lot of sense.
One way to improve would be to offer a “startup kit” with all the documents a startup might need in one place. Possibly even a flow diagram with them in order that we will need them.
You lean into this a little bit with your Employee Contracts pack, but you could expand this to include everything (Articles of Association, SHA, Directors Service Contracts, Staff Handbook etc...).
We are a start up and we keep buying documents off you piecemeal. A single location with everything we need, in the order we are likely to need it, would make a lot of sense.
Dan Byles
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