Letter of Engagement and Addendums

Letter of Engagement and Addendums

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Having not raised my fees for a number of years, I am contemplating writing to clients to notify of my revised fees going forward, so that they are all streamlined and I can have set fees for set work types, across the board.

If in the LOE, the work schedules remain the same and it is only the fee amount that is being changed, does anyone know if raising an 'addendum to the Letter of Engagement dated..........' is acceptable to cover the fee increases, where everything else remains the same.  This would reduce the workload that raising new LOE's for everyone would entail, as all ours are hard copies, signed for in person by the clients. 

My current LOEs don't state that any future price increases may occur, just that 'we confirm that our fees from X Date,  will be as follows: £x.

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By TheNovice
21st Oct 2021 18:30

I'd only amend the letter of engagement if the scope of work changes, for price increases I'd say an addendum is ok.

Not sure what institute you are with but the ICAEW state it is best practice for a letter of engagement, not mandatory for non-regulated work. So it's more about protecting yourself/your business.

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
21st Oct 2021 18:38

There have been some GDPR changes recently, Post Brexit, so it might be time to bite the bullet and re-issue from scratch.

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Replying to I'msorryIhaven'taclue:
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By Hugo Fair
21st Oct 2021 19:43

"Is raising an 'addendum to the Letter of Engagement dated..........' acceptable to cover the fee increases, where everything else remains the same?"

Acceptable to whom?
If you mean 'would it be valid?', then the answer is "Probably (depending on your issued T&Cs)".

But, when you say "This would reduce the workload that raising new LOE's for everyone would entail, as all ours are hard copies, signed for in person by the clients" ... this raises two questions in my mind:
1. Irrespective of whether an Addendum-only approach would be valid, it would leave you without a signed-for acceptance by the client (should there be any dispute over fee rates in the future);
2. And as @I'm sorry ... hints, if your LoE has remained unchanged for quite some time then it's likely that elements will need updating - in which case this is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

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