Witnessly

Practitioner agreement

Version 1, 13 November 2026. This agreement is between Chewy Bytes Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom that operates Witnessly (“we”, “us”), and you, the practitioner who joins Witnessly (“you”). It starts when we approve your application.

1. What Witnessly does

We list you, show customers your available times, take bookings and payment, prepare forms where we can, and pass you the fees due to you. We do not administer oaths, take declarations or give legal advice. Administering oaths is a reserved legal activity, so you carry it out yourself under the rules of your own regulator.

2. Who can join

  1. You must be entitled to take each type of document you switch on, for example as a solicitor with a current practising certificate, a notary public, or another authorised person with the powers of a commissioner for oaths.
  2. We check the public register for your role before you go live and from time to time after that.
  3. You will tell us within two working days if your practising certificate, registration or commission is suspended, restricted, made subject to conditions or ends. We will pause your listing straight away.

3. Your fees

  1. For statutory declarations and affidavits taken in England and Wales, you receive the fee set by the Commissioners for Oaths (Fees) Order 1993 in full: £5 for each person making the declaration and £2 for each exhibit or schedule you mark. We take nothing from it.
  2. For services no fee order covers, such as notarial acts and certified copies, you set your own price when you switch the service on, and you receive that price in full.
  3. Customers pay us a separate booking fee for our service. We pay the Stripe charges on payments and payouts.
  4. You do not pay us anything, and we do not pay you anything for introductions.

4. When you are paid

  1. After an appointment, you mark it as done, not attended by the customer, or not taken. Your fee is released 24 hours after you mark it done, unless the customer reports a problem in that time, in which case we look into it with you first.
  2. We pay you through a Stripe Connect Express account in your name. Stripe pays out to your bank weekly, on Mondays. Stripe's Connected Account Agreement also applies to you, and you need to keep your Stripe account in good standing to be paid.

5. Cancellations, no-shows and declining

  1. If a customer cancels or does not turn up, you are not paid for that appointment, because the fee set by law is only for taking a declaration.
  2. You may decline to take any declaration you are not comfortable taking, for example if you cannot confirm who the person is. Mark the appointment as not taken. The customer is refunded your fee.
  3. If you need to cancel, do it as early as you can. The customer is refunded in full. If you cancel often or miss appointments, we may pause your listing.

6. Your professional duties

  1. You follow the rules of your regulator for every appointment, including checking the identity of each person making a declaration and making sure they understand what they are declaring.
  2. You do not take a declaration in a matter where you act for any of the parties or have an interest in it.
  3. You keep the professional indemnity insurance your regulator requires.
  4. You are responsible for how each declaration is taken and witnessed. We are responsible for the booking, payment and forms we prepare.

7. Introductions and what customers are told

We introduce customers to you and earn a booking fee from them. Before paying, every customer is shown our booking fee, that Witnessly is an introducer and not a law firm, and that the fee for taking the declaration goes to you. This helps you meet your duty to tell clients about an introducer's interest (SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, paragraph 5.1). You agree to tell clients anything else your regulator requires. This agreement is the written record of our arrangement.

We only find customers in ways your regulator would allow you to, and we never cold call or send unsolicited messages to the public.

8. Customers booked through Witnessly

For appointments booked through Witnessly, you take payment only through Witnessly. You are free to do any other work for a customer directly, on your own terms.

9. Your listing

We show customers your name, firm, office town and postcode area, the documents you take, how you take them and your available times. You keep this information accurate. You can switch document types on or off at any time.

10. Personal data

You and we are each a separate controller of customers' personal data. We share a customer's name, contact details, appointment and the documents they bring with you so that you can take their declaration. You use that data only for the appointment and your professional obligations, keep it secure and confidential, and keep it only as long as those obligations require. Our privacy policy explains how we use your own data.

11. Pausing and leaving

  1. You can leave at any time by emailing us. Appointments already booked stay booked unless you cancel them under section 5.
  2. We can pause or end your listing if your registration changes, if we receive complaints we cannot resolve with you, if you break this agreement, or if Witnessly closes. Fees already earned are still paid.

12. Responsibility

Each of us is responsible for our own part of the service. Nothing in this agreement limits liability that the law does not allow to be limited. Otherwise, our total liability to you under this agreement in any 12 months is limited to the booking fees we received for your appointments in that period.

13. Changes

We will email you at least 30 days before any change to this agreement takes effect. If you do not agree with a change, you can leave before it starts.

14. Law

This agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales deal with any dispute.

Apply to join