Every Contract stops at its end date. What happens next depends on whether the Contract went live in time. This article explains each outcome, how to find out why a Contract stopped, and how to keep working with the same freelancer without losing time.

Who can do this: The Contract's creator, or anyone whose role and team let them edit that Contract. Some actions, such as Terminate Contract and Archive Contract, need their own permission.

Availability: Available in every account that uses Contracts. Your workspace may use a different name for Contracts, Tasks, Projects or Payments.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What happens at the end date

Where the Contract isWhat happens at the end date
LiveThe Contract changes to Ended. Any change request still waiting to be accepted is cancelled, and no more automated invoices are created for it.
Not live yet (Under review, Signing, Accepting or Scheduled)Depending on how your account is set up, the Contract is either Cancelled automatically, or it expires. An expired Contract goes back to the start of its review and acceptance steps and shows an icon with the tooltip "This contract expired before it could start." The freelancer can't sign or accept it until you give it new dates.

Task-Based and Time and Material Contracts can also end early. When every Task on the Contract is marked Completed, the Contract ends, even if its end date is still in the future.

Find out why a Contract stopped

  1. Open the Contract.
  2. Click the Activity log tab.

The log shows what happened and when. Common reasons are:

  • The end date passed before the freelancer finished every onboarding, signing, insurance or compliance stage.
  • The freelancer was disqualified in a workflow stage, for example by an answer in a classification questionnaire. If the answer was wrong, create a new Contract and have the freelancer answer again.
  • Someone on your team cancelled it. The Contract also shows a banner with who cancelled it and when.

My Contract expired before it started

If your account marks Contracts as expired, you can give the Contract new dates.

  1. Open the Contract.
  2. Click Actions and select Change Contract.
  3. Set a new end date, and a new start date if needed.
  4. Click Update Contract.

The Contract goes back through its review and acceptance steps, and the freelancer signs or accepts it again. Set an end date that leaves time for every stage to finish. On Agent of Record (AOR) Contracts the end date is locked, and the field shows "Only the Compliance Worksuite team is allowed to edit the End Date." Teammates whose role includes Can edit compliance data of Contracts they have access to can change it. If no one on your team can, contact Worksuite Support.

My Contract was cancelled or has ended

An ended or cancelled Contract can't be reopened, edited or extended. That includes its dates, PO numbers, titles and amounts. To continue the work, create a new Contract from it.

  1. Open the ended or cancelled Contract.
  2. Click Actions and select Duplicate Contract. A new draft Contract opens with the same details.
  3. Set the new start and end dates.
  4. Check the Task names, dates and fees in the Contract Tasks section.
  5. Click Save and make live.

The new Contract starts its workflow, and the freelancer gets a notification to complete the remaining steps and accept it.

If you don't see Duplicate Contract, one of these applies:

  • Your role doesn't let you edit this Contract.
  • Its Contract template was archived, or is limited to admins.
  • The Contract is itself a renewal.

Ask the Contract creator or an admin, or create a new Contract from an active template. See How to Create a Contract.

Some accounts also show Create Contract renewal on ended Contracts whose template doesn't renew automatically. It creates a new Contract linked to the original, with the status Renewing. The Contract's creator or approver then clicks Renew Contract to send it through review and acceptance.

What carries over to the new Contract

The freelancer doesn't need to redo anything stored on their profile: profile details, tax and bank details, documents, and one-off agreements. They do need to complete anything that belongs to the Contract itself, such as its agreement, its custom fields and its Contract-specific stages.

Contract-specific stages can take weeks, for example insurance or compliance reviews. Set end dates with enough time for them, even for short or pay-only work.

If the freelancer already finished stages such as insurance or signing on the old Contract, contact Worksuite Support with links to both Contracts. Support can check whether the new Contract can skip those stages.

Dates are locked on a duplicated Contract

If you see "Dates should be between" two dates, the duplicate's Tasks are still linked to the original Project, and that Project's dates limit them. Either extend the Project's end date, or link the Task to a different Project whose dates cover the new period. Then update the Task names and dates and save. How to Extend a Contract's End Date shows how to change a Project's end date.

The freelancer needs to invoice after the Contract ended

Freelancers can still submit invoices against an ended Contract. When your invoice settings require Tasks to be linked to a Contract, only Live and Ended Contracts accept invoices.

Your Contract template can set a cutoff. The Payment submission grace period (days) setting, under Expiration & Renewal in the template, sets how many days after the end date invoices are still accepted. If it's empty, there's no cutoff. A change to this setting applies to Contracts created afterwards, not to existing ones.

To add an invoice for an ended Contract yourself:

  1. Open the Contract and click the Tasks tab.
  2. Open the Task the invoice is for.
  3. Click Add Invoice.

If the grace period has passed, you'll see "The Payment submission deadline for this Contract has passed." Contact Worksuite Support if a late invoice must be paid.

I want to give an existing freelancer more work

If their Contract is still live, add a Task to it instead of creating a new Contract. A new Contract runs the whole workflow again.

  1. Open the live Contract.
  2. Click Actions and select Change Contract.
  3. In the Contract Tasks section, click Add another Task.
  4. Enter the Task name, dates and fee.
  5. Save your changes.

This creates a change request that the freelancer accepts. Tasks created separately in Tasks & Projects aren't linked to the Contract. To give the work more time instead, see How to Extend a Contract's End Date.

I need to end a Contract early or stop it

  • Live Contract: click Actions and select Terminate Contract. Choose a Termination date of today or earlier, and enter a Termination reason. The Contract ends on that date. Invoices already generated for later periods aren't removed. You can't terminate a Contract while it has a change request waiting, and Agent of Record (AOR) Contracts can't be terminated this way. To end an AOR Contract early, contact Worksuite Support.
  • Live Contract, ending on a future date: use Change Contract to set an earlier end date and adjust the fee. The freelancer accepts the change. To change only the end date, click Actions and select Set end Contract date instead. The end date changes right away and the freelancer isn't asked to accept. This option isn't available on AOR Contracts.
  • Contract that isn't live yet: click Actions and select Cancel Contract, then enter a Cancellation reason. This can't be undone.
  • Draft Contract: click Actions and select Remove Contract.

There's no option to pause a Contract. Ending it stops its automated invoices.

Live, ended and cancelled Contracts can't be deleted. To hide ended or cancelled Contracts from your lists, use Archive Contract. You can bring an archived Contract back with Restore Contract. To stop a single Task, mark it complete or cancel it from the Task's menu. See How to Manage a Task After You Create It.

Still stuck?

Contact Worksuite Support with:

  • A link to each Contract
  • What you need, such as new dates or a late invoice
  • Links to any duplicated or replacement Contracts

Support/Resources

Still have questions about ended, expired or cancelled Contracts? Click Support in the bottom-left corner of Worksuite to contact our Support team, or email support@worksuite.com. Including a link to the page you're on and a screenshot helps us answer faster.