Kill Fee Calculator for UK Freelance Journalists — What a Killed Commission Is Worth

A killed commission is the point at which a freelance discovers whether the commissioning agreement said anything about kill fees. Where it did not, the claim rests on convention, and the awkward part is asserting a convention in writing without overstating it.

Last reviewed: 24 August 2026Next review due: 24 August 2027

Kill Fee Calculator

Calculate what you are owed when a commission is killed and generate a claim email to send to the commissioning editor.

NUJ guidance: If no kill-fee clause exists in your contract, 50% is the conventional minimum for work substantially completed. Industry practice varies — always confirm payment terms in writing before starting commissioned work.

Agreed Full Fee (£)

Contract Kill Fee Percentage

Expenses Already Incurred (£)

Hours Worked (optional — for context in the email; not priced into the total)

Reason for Kill

Story Title

Commissioning Editor Name

Client / Publication Name

Your Name

Kill Fee Claim Email

Subject: Kill Fee Claim — [Story title]

Dear [Commissioning Editor],

I am writing to formally invoke the kill fee provision in relation to the above commission.

As you are aware, I was commissioned at an agreed fee of £0.00. I understand that this commission has been killed due to: Editor's decision.

KILL FEE CLAIM

  Agreed fee:         £0.00
  Kill fee (50%):     £0.00
  Expenses incurred:  £0.00
  TOTAL OWED:         £0.00

I have incurred expenses to this commission. Under the agreed kill-fee terms, I would be grateful if you could authorise a kill-fee invoice for £0.00 at your earliest convenience.

Please confirm by return email that this kill fee is approved so that I may raise a formal invoice. Payment should be made in accordance with our standard payment terms.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,
[Your Name]

How it works

Inputs: the agreed full fee, a kill fee percentage, expenses already incurred, hours worked (optional), a reason for the kill from five fixed options, plus the story title, editor, client and your name.
The percentage dropdown offers 25% labelled low, 50% labelled NUJ standard, 75%, 100% labelled best, or Other for a custom figure. Kill fee owed is agreed fee x (percentage / 100), and the total owed is that plus your expenses.
It produces two outputs: a plain calculation summary and a full claim email that formally invokes the kill fee provision, itemises the fee, percentage, expenses and total, and asks the editor to authorise a kill-fee invoice.
If you select any percentage below 50, the email automatically inserts a sentence asserting that NUJ Freelance Office guidance states 50% is the conventional minimum for work substantially completed where no contract clause says otherwise.
Both outputs can be copied, and the email can be printed to A4. The date in the summary is read from your browser on load rather than baked in at build time.

When to use it

The moment an editor tells you a commissioned piece is not running, while the correspondence is fresh.
When a story is superseded by events after you have already done the reporting and the expenses are real.
Where the commissioning agreement is silent on kill fees and you need to open the conversation with a figure.
To document expenses separately from the fee, so they are not negotiated away with the percentage.

What it does not do

The 50% figure is hardcoded in three places — the dropdown label calling it the NUJ standard, the amber guidance box, and the sentence auto-inserted into the email. It is an industry convention, not a statutory entitlement. A kill fee clause in your contract overrides it, and plenty of contracts specify 25% or nothing at all.
The generated email asserts NUJ guidance on your behalf. Check the current NUJ Freelance Office position before sending a claim that quotes it as though it were settled.
Hours worked are collected and mentioned in the email, and both the field and the generated text now say plainly that they are context only and are not priced into the total. The tool values the percentage, not your time — if you think your hours should be reflected in the figure you claim, you will need to negotiate that separately.
There is no VAT handling and no interest calculation, so a kill fee that is itself paid late is not covered here. Use the Late Payment Interest Calculator for that.
Whether any kill fee is owed at all depends on your commissioning agreement and the circumstances of the kill. This is a calculator and a draft, not legal advice.

More tools

This is one of the free tools on UK JournoHub. See the full tools index for the rest.

Primary sources

National Union of Journalists— NUJ