Debt collection by sector
Your trade has its own payment games. Recovery should know them.
A missed pay-less notice, a backdoor hire, a retention of title clause — the strongest recovery lever is usually sector-specific. Start from yours.
Construction & trades
Construction has the worst payment culture in the UK economy: applications knocked back without proper notice, retentions held long after defects periods expire, and subcontract chains where everyone blames the tier above. The good news is that construction debt comes with paperwork — and paperwork is what wins recoveries.
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Recruitment agencies
Recruiters extend credit twice over: temp margins funded weekly while clients pay in 30, 60 or 90 days, and perm fees invoiced after the candidate starts — when the client's incentive to pay politely has already left the building. Then there's the classic: the client who rejects your candidate and hires them 'independently' three months later.
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Freelancers & creatives
Freelancers get paid last and chased least — clients know a one-person business has no credit control department and worries about reputation. But a sole trader has exactly the same recovery rights as a plc: statutory interest, fixed compensation per invoice, and the courts. The difference is knowing which tool fits a £900 debt versus a £9,000 one.
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Landlords & letting agents
Rent arrears are uniquely frustrating: the debt grows monthly, the deposit rarely covers it, and the person who owes you may be living in your asset — or may have vanished from it. Residential and commercial arrears follow different rules, and both reward landlords who move early.
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Haulage & logistics
Haulage runs on brutal cash-flow maths: fuel, drivers and finance paid weekly, freight invoices paid — eventually. Load boards and subcontracted freight add layers of 'pay when paid' pressure that no haulier ever actually agreed to. In a sector where margins are single-digit, a 90-day debtor isn't a customer, they're an unsecured loan.
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Manufacturing & wholesale
Manufacturers and wholesalers are the economy's unofficial banks: goods shipped on 30-to-90-day terms, credit limits stretched by good customers and abused by bad ones. When an account stops paying, you're usually owed across a ledger of invoices — and possibly still holding purchase orders they expect you to fulfil.
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Professional services
Professional work has a cruel billing physics: the value peaks before the invoice lands. Once the strategy is delivered, the accounts filed or the campaign shipped, some clients rediscover their budget constraints — and unlike goods, you can't repossess advice. What you can do is evidence it and collect it properly.
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Ready to get your money moving?
Tell us what you're owed — we'll match it against vetted UK agencies on fees, model and specialisms, and the right one gets in touch. Free, no obligation, no cold calls.