Getting paid
How to ask clients for a deposit, and how much to take
Asking for money before you have done anything can feel presumptuous, especially early on. It is not. A deposit is how a freelancer holds a date, buys materials and finds out whether a client is serious, and most clients expect to pay one. What matters is the amount and the wording.
· 6 min read
Why take a deposit at all?
A deposit does three jobs.
It holds the time. If you turn down other work for a date, the deposit is what that date costs. Without one, a client can cancel the week before and you are left with an empty diary and nothing to show for it.
It covers costs you pay up front. Stock, materials, travel, venue fees, licences, subcontractors. You should not be lending a client the money to pay for their own job.
It sorts serious clients from the rest. People who pay a deposit tend to turn up, reply to emails and pay the final invoice. People who argue about a modest deposit often argue about everything else. Better to find that out before you start.
How much should the deposit be?
There is no legal standard, but some ranges are common across trades:
| Type of work | Typical deposit |
|---|---|
| Small one-off jobs under a few hundred pounds | Full payment up front, or nothing until delivery |
| Most project work (design, writing, development) | 25% to 50% up front, balance on delivery |
| Longer projects | Staged: for example a third at the start, a third at a midpoint, a third on completion |
| Dates booked months ahead (weddings, events, shoots) | A booking fee to secure the date, then staged payments with the balance due before the day |
| Jobs with large material costs (catering, floristry, print) | Enough to cover the materials, plus a share of your fee |
Fifty percent is probably the most common figure for creative project work, and it is easy to explain. For new clients you know nothing about, err on the higher side. For a client who has paid you on time for three years, you might drop it entirely.
Whatever you choose, it should be roughly in proportion to what you lose if the job falls through. That matters for the next section.
Can a deposit be non-refundable?
With business clients, you have a lot of freedom. Agree it in the contract and it generally stands, although a clause that keeps an amount far larger than any loss you could suffer can still be challenged.
With private individuals, be more careful. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a term that lets you keep a payment that is out of proportion to your actual loss can be unfair, and an unfair term cannot be enforced against a consumer. The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on unfair contract terms draws a distinction:
- a deposit that is reasonably modest and genuinely there to secure the booking can normally be kept if the client cancels
- a large advance payment cannot simply be kept in full on cancellation; you would be expected to refund what you have not lost
So writing "non-refundable" on a 70% payment does not make it so. A safer approach is to keep the deposit modest and name it what it is (a booking fee), and to set out cancellation charges that increase as the date gets closer. Those charges should reflect your real loss: the closer to the date, the harder it is to re-book.
Consumer clients may also have a 14-day cancellation right if the contract was agreed online, by phone or away from your premises. Our freelance contract checklist explains how that interacts with starting work early. The CMA's unfair contract terms guidance is long but readable if you want the detail.
This is general information, not legal advice. If deposits are a big part of your business, get your terms checked once and reuse them.
How to ask, without sounding awkward
The trick is to make the deposit part of the process rather than a separate request. Put it in the quote, not in a nervous email afterwards.
In the quote or proposal:
In the email that sends it:
Notice what this does. It ties the deposit to something the client wants (their date, the start of work), and it states it as a step, not a favour. No "if that's OK" and no "sorry to ask". You would not expect a builder, a venue or a dentist to apologise for a deposit.
Invoicing the deposit
Send the deposit as its own invoice, with its own number, labelled clearly, for example "Deposit (50%) for brand identity project". When the job is finished, the final invoice shows the full fee, the deposit already paid, and the balance due. The client can see at a glance that they are not being charged twice. For the rest of what an invoice needs, see how to invoice as a freelancer.
Do not start until the deposit has cleared. The whole point is lost if you begin on a promise that "it's going through today". If it then does not arrive, you are back to chasing an unpaid invoice, with work already done.
Take it at the moment they book
The easiest deposit to collect is the one taken at the moment the client commits, before they have time to put it on tomorrow's to-do list.
For appointment-based work, such as shoots, sessions or site visits, Panorivo's booking page can take the deposit by card as part of booking. You choose a fixed amount or a percentage for each type of booking. The slot is held while the client pays and released if they walk away. The money goes straight to your own Stripe account, and Panorivo takes no commission. It is off unless you switch it on, and it only works once you have connected Stripe.
For project work, a deposit invoice with a Pay by card button does the same job. The quote the client accepts becomes the invoice, and the deposit invoice can go out with the contract. Both are free.
Frequently asked questions
How much deposit should a freelancer ask for?
For most project work, 25% to 50% up front is common, with the balance on delivery. Longer projects are often split into three stage payments. Dates booked months ahead usually take a booking fee followed by staged payments. The deposit should be roughly in proportion to what you would lose if the job were cancelled.
Are non-refundable deposits legal in the UK?
With business clients they generally are, if agreed in the contract. With consumers, a modest deposit that secures a booking can usually be kept, but a large advance payment that is out of proportion to your actual loss may be an unfair term under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and unenforceable.
Should I start work before the deposit is paid?
No. Wait until the deposit has cleared. Starting on a promise removes the protection the deposit was meant to give you, and a client who is slow with the deposit is likely to be slow with the final invoice too.
Is a deposit the same as a retainer?
Not quite. A deposit is a part-payment towards a specific job. A retainer is usually a recurring payment that reserves a set amount of your time each month, whether or not it is all used.