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Business-to-business services agreement (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland · in English
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Made for use in Northern Ireland
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For a business in Northern Ireland that provides services to another business: consultancy, design, maintenance, marketing or IT support. The agreement sets out the services, the fees, invoicing and payment within an agreed period, who owns the work produced, confidentiality, data protection, a cap on liability, notice to end it and the law and courts of Northern Ireland. Late payment carries statutory interest. Both businesses sign. For an individual freelancer, the freelance consultancy agreement fits better.
- Made for use in Northern Ireland
- Last updated October 29, 2026
- Document in English
Where a UK document reproduces the words of legislation or of a government publication — UK, Scottish or Northern Irish — it contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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When to use this document
- Your business in Northern Ireland is starting a maintenance contract with another firm.
- A client wants your marketing agency to put the terms of the work in writing.
- You supply IT support to a company and the work keeps growing without clear terms.
- You want a services agreement covering fees, payment and who owns the work.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Date
- Supplier's name (a company's registered name, or the owner's own name and any trading name)
- Supplier's company number, if a company
- Supplier's address (number and street)
- Town or city
- Supplier's postcode
- Customer's name (business or person)
- Customer's company number, if a company
- Customer's address (number and street)
- Customer's postcode
- Start date
- When the supplier invoices (for example monthly in arrears)
- Payment term (days)
- Who owns the work produced for the customer
- Cap on each party's liability (for example the fees paid in the last 12 months)
- Notice period
- Services
- Deliverables, deadlines and timetable
- Fees, in pounds, and how they are worked out
- Person signing for the supplier (name and position)
- Person signing for the customer (name and position)
Common questions
- Must a contract for services between two Northern Ireland businesses be written down?
- No: it can be made orally, by email or by conduct. Writing it down settles price, payment, ownership of the work and how to end it, and gives a court terms to read if things go wrong. Where nothing is agreed, the law fills some gaps, such as the duty to provide a business’s services with reasonable care and skill (section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, which applies in Northern Ireland).
- How far can a supplier cap its liability under Northern Ireland law?
- Liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence cannot be excluded, nor liability for fraud. Part I of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, which applies in Northern Ireland, requires an exclusion or limit of liability for other loss caused by negligence to be reasonable, and the same goes for any exclusion or limit in one business’s written standard terms. A cap tied to the fees or to insurance cover is a common choice.
- Does the Late Payment Act protect a supplier in Northern Ireland?
- Yes. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 extends to Northern Ireland: if payment is late and the contract gives no adequate remedy of its own, the supplier can claim statutory interest at 8% a year above the Bank of England reference rate and a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice. Businesses remain free to agree their own payment period.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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