Usually some of it, and often all of it. If the customer cancels inside their 14-day cooling-off period, you refund the lot within 14 days, less a fair charge for any work they asked you to start. After the 14 days, or where there's no cooling-off, you can keep what covers your real loss from the cancellation and no more. Writing "non-refundable" on the quote doesn't change either rule on its own.

This is a guide for trades dealing with private customers in the UK, not legal advice. With a business customer it comes down to what the contract says.

First: are they inside the 14 days?

A job agreed at the customer's home, or by text or phone straight after you were round, comes with a 14-day right to cancel for any reason. Jobs agreed online or by phone without meeting get it too. The 14 days start the day after they agree the job, or the day after the goods arrive if you're supplying them as well as fitting. If you never told them about the right in writing, the period can stretch to more than a year. The detail is in the 14-day cooling-off rule when you quote at a customer's home.

If they're inside the 14 days:

  • Refund everything within 14 days of them telling you, the same way they paid unless they agree to another way, with nothing taken off for the refund.
  • The one deduction: if they asked you in writing to start before the 14 days were up, you keep a fair share of the price for the work done up to the day they cancelled. If you started without that written request, you can't keep anything for the work.
  • Materials you've bought don't count, unless they were made to measure or personalised for the customer. Those sit outside the cancellation right, so the customer is still on the hook for them.
  • No cooling-off at all: an urgent repair the customer called you out for, jobs of £42 or less, or jobs agreed at your own premises. For those, go to the next section.

After the 14 days: keep your real loss, not more

Once the cooling-off has passed, a customer who cancels is breaking the contract, and you're entitled to the loss it causes you. That's the test for the deposit. Not what you'd like to keep: what the cancellation actually cost you.

What counts as a loss:

  • Materials you can't send back or use on another job, less anything you get back for them. If the merchant takes them back for a 20% restocking fee, your loss is the 20%.
  • Work already done, at the agreed rate.
  • A slot you couldn't refill. If they cancel the week before and you sat idle, the profit you'd have made on those days is a loss. If you filled the days with other work, it isn't.

Two rules sit on top:

  • You have to try to limit the loss. Return what you can, fill the dates if you can. You can't charge for a loss you could reasonably have avoided.
  • A "non-refundable deposit" clause only goes so far. Consumer law lets a court strike out a term that's unfair, and the law's own list of likely-unfair terms includes one that lets you keep money a customer paid if they pull out, without them getting the same compensation if you pull out, and one that makes them pay a disproportionately high sum for cancelling. The government's guide for businesses puts it plainly: keeping a deposit in full is more likely to be fair when it's a small percentage of the price and your terms said clearly when it's non-refundable. Making every prepayment non-refundable whatever the reason is unlikely to be fair.

With WorkPaid: your cancellation terms go in the Cancellation policy box on every quote, and the customer accepts them when they type their name to say yes. So there's a dated record of what they agreed to, before they've paid a penny.

Work out the number

An example, not a rule. A £2,400 bathroom, 25% deposit, £600 paid.

  • They cancel on day 5, nothing bought, no work done: inside the 14 days. Refund £600.
  • They cancel in week 3. You'd bought £400 of tiles in their colour, non-returnable, and done nothing else: outside the 14 days. Your loss is £400. Refund £200.
  • They cancel two days before the start. You'd ordered nothing, but couldn't fill the three days: your loss is the profit on those days, not the whole price. If you'd have cleared £150 a day after materials, that's £450. Refund £150, and be ready to show how you got there.

Whatever the sum, write it down for them: what you've kept, why, and what's coming back. A customer who can see the maths rarely argues with it. One who gets "sorry, deposits are non-refundable" argues, leaves a review, or claims it back through their card.

The message to send

Hi [name], sorry it's not going ahead. Your deposit was [£600]. I'd already bought the [tiles] for the job, which came to [£400] and can't go back, so I've kept that and sent the other [£200] back to you today. The receipt's attached. If anything changes, you know where I am. Cheers, [your name]

How to avoid the argument next time

  • Size the deposit to the materials and the dates you're holding, and say so on the quote: "The deposit covers materials ordered for your job and holds the dates." How much, job by job: how much deposit should you ask for.
  • Say when it's not coming back, in plain words, before they pay: "If you cancel after materials are ordered, the cost of anything that can't be returned comes out of the deposit."
  • Give the 14-day notice on every quote, and get a written yes before starting or ordering inside the 14 days. Otherwise you can't keep anything for that work.
  • Don't buy materials before the 14 days are up unless you've got that written request.

With WorkPaid: the deposit is part of the quote. Set the amount, say what it covers, and the customer accepts and pays it from the same link, by card or Pay by Bank. It's free to send quotes, with no monthly fee. Get started free.

Three questions we get asked

Can I keep the deposit if I've already bought the materials?

After the 14-day cooling-off, yes, for the part you can't get back: a non-returnable item is a loss, a returnable one is only the restocking fee. Inside the 14 days, materials don't count unless they were made to measure or personalised for the customer, so don't order them before the 14 days are up without a written request to start.

My quote says the deposit is non-refundable. Doesn't that settle it?

Not on its own. A court can strike out an unfair term, and the law lists keeping a customer's money without equal compensation when you pull out, and disproportionate cancellation sums, as likely unfair. A clear clause, a deposit that's a small percentage of the price, and a sum that matches your real loss is the version that holds up.

How long do I have to refund?

If they cancelled inside their 14-day cooling-off, the law gives you 14 days from the day they told you, by the same payment method unless they agree to another, with no fee taken off. Outside the 14 days there's no set deadline, but refund what's owed promptly and show your working.

Doing it in WorkPaid

Every WorkPaid quote has a Cancellation policy box, with a default in your profile. What you write there shows on the quote and the PDF, and the customer accepts it when they type their name to accept the quote, so there's a dated record of what they agreed to. WorkPaid can't send a refund for you. Pay the customer back yourself, by bank transfer for example, and if they paid by card, check first that they're happy to be paid back that way. Then record the refund on the quote, so your earnings and VAT figures stay right.

The rules: the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, Part 3 (cancelling and refunds), the Consumer Rights Act 2015, Schedule 2 (the list of likely-unfair terms) and the GOV.UK guide to writing a fair contract for customers.