Debt recovery guide · First steps
Customer won't pay your invoice? The escalation path that works
An unpaid invoice is a debt, not a favour you're waiting on. The businesses that get paid treat it that way early: one professional final chaser, statutory add-ons applied, then escalation — because every week an invoice ages, the odds and the value of recovery drop.
Week one overdue: the professional chaser
Send a statement plus one firm, courteous chaser with a specific pay-by date. Attach the invoice and any signed order or approval — remove every excuse about 'not having the paperwork'.
If they plead cash flow, remember their cash flow is not a defence to your invoice — and businesses juggling creditors pay whoever escalates first.
Two to four weeks overdue: apply the statutory add-ons
On business-to-business invoices the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act gives you 8% plus base rate interest and £40–£100 fixed compensation per invoice — no contract clause needed. Re-issue your demand with the new total; delay is now their expense.
Past a month: letter before action, then hand it over
A letter before action sets out the debt and a final deadline before court. From an agency's letterhead, it resolves a large share of invoice debts on its own.
If it's ignored, escalate rather than re-send: a collection agency (fixed fee, commission or hybrid — set out up front) or, for genuinely disputed or high-value cases, solicitors. A county court claim remains the backstop, and judgment unlocks enforcement.
Where this fits in the bigger picture
This is one step of a well-trodden path — demands, statutory add-ons, professional recovery, court, enforcement. The complete debt recovery guide walks the whole process, and the late payment calculator works out what you can add to a commercial debt today.
Related situations
General information, not legal advice.