Engagement letters and signing
An engagement letter sets out the work your practice does for a client and the terms it does it on. This page shows how to write the wording once, send a letter to a client to sign, and see which letters are still waiting.
What Fyling does and does not do
Fyling lays out the letter from the wording you save, sends the client a signing link, and records who signed and when.
Fyling does not write your terms for you and does not check that they are right. They are your terms, not ours. Until you save your own, letters use example wording that you must replace.
1. Set your wording
An owner opens Settings, then Engagement letter. The page is split into sections, each with a heading and text. Words in curly brackets, such as the client's name, are filled in for each letter. A preview underneath shows the wording laid out with made-up client details. Add the parts your professional body expects, for example limitation of liability, complaints, data protection and anti-money-laundering.
2. Make and send a letter
- Open Engagement letters and choose New letter.
- Pick the client and the services you will provide, then make the letter.
- Check the letter. You can download it to read it as the client will.
- Choose Send for signature. The client gets an email with a signing link.
Nothing goes to the client until you choose Send for signature. Making the letter only saves it.
3. How the client signs
The client opens the link, reads the letter, types their name as it appears on the request and clicks to agree. Fyling stores a fingerprint of the exact letter they were shown, the time, and the address they signed from. If you send the letter again, the old link stops working, so nobody signs a version you have since replaced.
This is a simple electronic signature. English law generally accepts electronic signatures, but whether one is enough for a particular document is a question for your own adviser.
Source: Electronic Communications Act 2000, section 7
4. See what is waiting
The Engagement letters page sorts every letter into three groups: Needs you, Waiting for the client, and Signed or active. A letter appears under Needs you when it is a draft, made but not sent, expired, or still unsigned after 7 days. Letters that have gone unsigned for a week show how many days they have waited, and can be sent again.
Good to know
A signed letter is a record that the client agreed to your terms. It is not an approval from Companies House or HMRC, so it never shows a green "accepted" chip.
What it does for your practice: Engagement letters