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Request Deposit (or Escrow Deposit) is a functionality allowing freelancers to request a pre-agreed project payment amount to be paid to them.

The payment amount could be:

1. The remainder of the payment from the pre-agreed amount between the Hirer and the freelancer to complete a project or milestone.
2. An extra payment amount that is newly requested and pre-agreed between the hirer and the freelancer, after the project has started.

1. Requesting Payment for Work Completed

When a hirer and a freelancer agree on a project and its payment amount, the Deposit amount which is at least 50% of the total project payment amount (unless otherwise agreed), will be deposited by the hirer and will be 'locked' in the project's Escrow account. 

Deposit Payment Request by freelancers - Project Tasks/Milestones

Prior to starting their work on a project, a freelancer MUST ensure that the deposited amount in the project's Escrow account is 50% of the total project payment amount(*). Once a freelancer is able to view a a correct deposit amount in their project payments page, they can commence working on a project or milestone. 

Upon completion of a pre-agreed milestone or task, a freelancer can request to be paid a part or a full deposit amount, from the Hirer. The amount of payment that the freelancer receives for each task or milestone depends solely on their agreement with the Hirer, for that specific task or milestone.

To receive the payment for a specific task or milestone, the freelancer needs to raise an invoice, by going to their project Payments page and clicking on the Raise Invoice button. The freelancer must then complete the 'Raise an invoice' form and click on the 'Send Invoice' button at the bottom of the form.

The hirer will then receive the invoice and must Accept and release the funds to the freelancer's account within 14-working days, or the funds will automatically be released to the freelancer account after that period. 

If the hirer believes that the deposit amount requested by the freelancer is incorrect, they can Reject the invoice and ask the freelancer to raise a new invoice with the correct amount/information. 

Requesting the Remaining Deposit Amount

When a freelancer has received the full initial deposit amount - whether it's 50% of the total project payment budget, or more - they must request the remaining funds to be deposited to the project's Escrow account. To do this, the freelancer must go to their project Payments page, click on the Request Deposit button, fill in the required fields in the 'Request Funds' dialogue box, and click on the 'Request Deposit' button in the box. THE FREELANCER MUST STOP WORKING ON THE REMAINING PARTS OF THE PROJECT IMMEDIATELY and MUST NOT SUBMIT ANY WORK(S) until the remaining project funds are deposited into the project's Escrow account, by the Hirer(**).

2. Requesting Extra Funds

When a freelancer posts a proposal for a project and the hirer accepts their proposal, both parties must agree on a total payment amount for that project.

However, sometimes the freelancer may request that they are paid more for any extra work that they have done; or the hirer may want to add extra milestones or new requirements to the project. In these cases, both parties must agree on an extra payment amount, for the additional works.  

To request the extra payment(s), the freelancer must go to their Project Payments page and click on the Request Deposit button. They then need to enter the pre-agreed deposit amount, with a brief description to explain the reasons for their request, in the 'Request funds' dialogue box, and click on the 'Request Deposit' button in the box.

The hirer will then receive the request, and can Accept it if the amount is correct; or Reject it and ask the freelancer to send another request with the correct amount.

Please note that, if a hirer fails to honour their part of the contract and is not releasing the correct funds to the freelancer's account, the freelancer could then open a new dispute by going to our Disputes Webpage and clicking on the +New Dispute button.

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* Please note that, if agreed between a freelancer and a hirer, the initial deposited amount could be greater than 50% of the total project budget. For example, if a hirer's total project payment budget is £5,000.00, they could agree with a freelancer that, initially a 70% of project payment amount be deposited in the project's Escrow account; which in this case is £3,500.00, instead of a 50% deposit amount (which is £2,500.00). The initial project payment deposit could be up to 100% of the total project payment budget - provided that it is pre-agreed between the both parties.

** If a freelancer fails to secure their full income for the project (in the form of deposits), they risk not being paid for the work that they do; and in the absence of a clear evidence for the lack of payment(s), 360WORK is unable to assist the freelancer any further. 

Freelancers MUST NOT complete the remaining project tasks and milestones and MUST NOT submit their final works for the project, BEFORE THE HIRER DEPOSITS THE REMAINING PROJECT FUNDS INTO THE PROJECT ESCROW ACCOUNT. This will better ensure that the freelancer is paid their full income for the work that they do and provides clear and concrete evidence, in cases of complaints and escalations relating to any payment issues.