Key takeaways
- Work through the steps in order and keep each one in writing: check the invoice, remind, chase firmly, add interest, send a letter before action, then claim.
- If your client is a business, the law lets you add interest at 8% a year over the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed sum for the cost of chasing.
- Before you sue, send a letter before action. A company normally gets 14 days to reply. A sole trader or private individual gets 30.
- In England and Wales a claim of £10,000 or less normally goes to the small claims track, and you can file it online without a solicitor.
- You have six years from the due date to sue in England and Wales. In Scotland the debt is gone after five.
If a client hasn't paid your invoice, there's a set order for what to do next, and every step goes in writing. Check the invoice reached the right person, send a friendly reminder, then a firmer one with a date. If your client is a business, add statutory interest and a fixed sum for chasing. If that fails, send a letter before action, then claim through the court online. In England and Wales you have six years from the due date to sue. In Scotland it's five.
Each message is also evidence: a judge will want to see you gave the client a fair chance to pay. If the client says the work was wrong rather than just not paying, that's a dispute, and what to do when a project goes wrong is the better place to start.
| Step | Common timing | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Check the invoice | The day it's overdue | Rules out a mistake on your side |
| Friendly reminder | The first few days | Makes paying easy |
| Firm chase | A week or two overdue | Names the amount and a date |
| Interest | Once it's late (business clients) | Adds what the law allows |
| Letter before action | About a month, no answer | The warning a court expects |
| Court claim | After the letter's deadline | Gets a judgment you can enforce |
The timings are a common pace, not a legal rule. The deadlines the law does set are below.
Check the invoice before you chase
Rule out a problem on your side first.
- Did it reach the right person? Bigger clients often pay through an accounts team or a supplier portal, not the person who briefed you.
- Does it carry what their system needs? A missing purchase order number can hold an invoice in a queue without anyone telling you.
- Is it actually late? If you never agreed payment terms, gov.uk says a business payment is late 30 days after the client received the invoice or you delivered the work, whichever is later.
Our guides to invoices that get paid and payment terms cover both.
Send a friendly reminder, then a firm one
Assume the invoice has been missed, not refused. Send a short email on or just after the due date with the invoice number, the amount and a link they can pay from.
If a week or so passes with no payment and no reply, the next message gets firmer. Name the amount, how long it's overdue and a date for payment, and ask what's holding it up. A phone call often unsticks what emails can't, so follow one with an email confirming what was agreed: "Thanks for the call. As agreed, invoice 042 will be paid by Friday."
Keep the tone neutral and the facts exact: you may quote these messages in court. How to chase an unpaid invoice by email has wording for each one.
Still working for the client? Check your contract before you stop. Pausing work can be the right lever, but downing tools where the contract doesn't allow it can put you in breach.
Add statutory interest and compensation
If your client is a business, including a sole trader, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets you charge interest at 8% a year plus the Bank of England base rate. It runs from the day after the due date. If your contract names its own late payment rate, that rate usually applies instead.
You can also add a fixed sum for the cost of recovering the debt, from £40 on a small invoice up to £100 on a large one. If chasing genuinely cost more, you can claim reasonable costs on top.
Tell the client in writing what you're adding and how you worked it out. Our free late payment interest calculator does the sum. Your rights on late payments covers a client whose terms try to exclude it.
Send a letter before action
Before you sue, you're expected to give one formal warning in writing. Skip it and the court can cut the interest you're awarded or order you to pay costs, even if you win. What the letter needs depends on who owes you.
- A limited company. Say what's owed, for what work, how you worked out the total and that you'll claim if it isn't paid. Allow 14 days for a reply in a straightforward case.
- A sole trader or a private individual. The stricter Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies. The letter must be dated, must enclose the protocol's information sheet, reply form and a financial statement, and gives them 30 days to reply.
These rules cover England and Wales. Send the letter by email and post, and keep a copy. How to write a letter before action takes you through both versions.
Make a claim through the court
Once your letter's deadline passes, you can claim. In England and Wales, a claim of £10,000 or less normally goes to the small claims track, which is built for people without a solicitor. You file it online through Make a money claim if you and the client both have an address in England or Wales, and pay a court fee based on the amount. If the client disputes a claim that size, you'll be sent to a free mediation call before any hearing.
Check two things first. Is the company still trading? If Companies House shows it's in liquidation, read what happens when a client goes bust instead. And can they pay? A judgment against someone with nothing doesn't produce money.
Scotland uses Simple Procedure for claims of £5,000 or less, and Northern Ireland has its own small claims process. Our small claims guide covers filing, mediation and getting a judgment paid.
If your client is a consumer
Statutory interest only applies when you and your client are both acting in the course of a business. A couple booking a wedding photographer is outside it. A sole trader client still counts as a business.
With a consumer, you can charge late payment interest only if your contract says so, and the term has to be fair. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 an unfair term isn't binding on the consumer, so a rate that reads like a penalty may not be enforceable at all. With no contract rate, gov.uk says the rate in a court claim is usually 8% a year.
Leave the Late Payment Act out of letters to a consumer: it doesn't apply, and quoting it weakens the rest of the letter.
How long you have to chase
You can keep asking for as long as you like. The limit is on suing. In England and Wales you have six years from when the cause of action arose, which for an unpaid invoice normally means the due date. In Scotland the debt is extinguished after five years without a claim or an acknowledgement, so it's gone rather than just hard to enforce.
The clock can restart. In England and Wales, a part payment or an acknowledgement starts the six years again, as long as they haven't already run out, and an acknowledgement only counts if it's in writing and signed. Scotland treats a part payment or a clear written admission the same way. So keep the email where a client says "we'll pay next month".
Let the first steps run themselves
On Essential and Pro, switch on automatic reminders and HelloNoa sends up to five on weekdays: three days before the due date, on the day, then at 7, 14 and 30 days overdue, and then it stops. Your client can pay by card straight from the invoice, and the invoice shows every reminder that's gone out.
Start for freeThe bottom line
The early steps cost nothing and keep the relationship intact. If they don't work, the letter before action is the one step not to skip, because the court looks for it. Keep every message, and don't let an old invoice drift: six years sounds like plenty until the client stops trading.
Frequently asked questions
How long can you chase an unpaid invoice in the UK?
You can keep asking for as long as you like, but the time to sue is limited. In England and Wales it's six years from when payment fell due. In Scotland the debt is extinguished after five years without a claim or an acknowledgement. A part payment, or in England and Wales a signed written acknowledgement, restarts the clock, but only before time has run out.
When is an invoice legally late if we never agreed payment terms?
For a business client, the law treats payment as late 30 days after the client received the invoice or you delivered the work, whichever is later. Statutory interest can run from the day after that.
Can I charge interest if my client is a private individual?
Not under the Late Payment Act, which only covers business to business work. You can charge interest if your contract says so and the rate is fair. Without a contract rate, a court claim usually adds interest at 8% a year.
Do I need a solicitor to take a client to court over an invoice?
No. In England and Wales a claim of £10,000 or less normally goes to the small claims track, which is designed for people representing themselves, and you can file it online. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own routes for claims of £5,000 or less.
My client is a sole trader. Does anything change?
Statutory interest still applies, because a sole trader is a business. But the stricter Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims covers your letter before action, so it must enclose the protocol's forms and give them 30 days to reply before you claim.
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