Invoice payment terms: 14 days, 30 days and what to write

Payment terms tell your client when and how to pay you, and the common choices in the UK are 14 or 30 days from the invoice date. If you and a business client never agree a date, the law sets one: payment is late 30 days after the client gets your invoice or your work, whichever is later. Wording that holds is short. "Payment is due within 14 days of the invoice date" goes in your contract, and each invoice repeats it with the actual due date.

The default comes from the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Our guide to invoices that get paid covers the rest of the invoice, and late payments: your rights covers what you can claim once a term is broken.

What happens if you agree no payment terms

With no agreed date, section 4 of the Act gives a business client 30 days. The clock starts on the later of two days: the day you do the work, and the day the client learns how much they owe, which in practice means the day your invoice arrives. Deliver on a Monday and invoice a fortnight later, and the 30 days start from the invoice.

Public bodies, such as councils and NHS trusts, get 30 days at most. If their contract gives them longer, the Act still starts interest once 30 days have passed.

Treat the default as a backstop: it's when statutory interest starts, not the earliest you can ask. Gov.uk says you can set your own payment terms, including asking for payment upfront.

The 60-day limit for business clients

Gov.uk says an agreed payment date must usually be within 60 days for business transactions. You can agree longer, but it must be fair to both businesses.

If the agreed date falls more than 60 days after your work and invoice, statutory interest starts after day 60 anyway, unless the longer term isn't grossly unfair to you. The test weighs good commercial practice, the kind of work and any objective reason for the delay.

Big clients often send standard terms with long payment periods and no late payment interest. Signing them doesn't automatically sign your rights away. Under section 8, a term that removes statutory interest is void unless the contract gives you a substantial remedy of its own. Section 9 sets the test, which weighs bargaining strength and whether the term was imposed on you.

A firmer cap has been proposed but isn't law yet. The government's Commercial Payments Bill would cap payment terms between businesses at 60 days, or 30 for public bodies, with written exceptions where the client is the smaller business. It's still going through Parliament, so the rules above are the ones that apply today.

How many days to give

Pick the shortest term the client's process can meet. Before you agree it, ask who approves invoices and which day suppliers get paid. A 14-day term against a monthly payment run means your invoice waits for the next run.

Count from the invoice date, not from "approval" or "sign-off". A term that starts when the client approves the work puts the clock in their hands. Skip shorthand too: "30 days EOM" can be read as counting from the end of the month you invoice in, which can add weeks. Write it out.

Wording you can copy

Swap in your own numbers, and keep the contract and the invoice saying the same thing.

In your contract, for a business client:

The Client will pay each invoice within 14 days of the invoice date, by bank transfer to the account shown on the invoice or by card using the payment link on it. If an invoice is paid late, the Freelancer may claim statutory interest and fixed compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

On a 14-day invoice:

Payment terms: 14 days from the invoice date. Due date: [date].

On a 30-day invoice:

Payment terms: 30 days from the invoice date. Please pay by [date] to the account below, quoting invoice [number].

The late payment line, for business clients only:

Late payment may incur statutory interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

Pointing to the Act is usually safer than inventing your own rate. Gov.uk says you can't claim statutory interest if your contract sets a different rate, so a low rate you made up can replace a better one. Statutory interest is 8% a year over the Bank of England base rate. On top of it, the Act adds a fixed sum by the size of the debt, from £40 up to £100. Our late payment interest calculator works out the total for any invoice.

Put the terms in the contract first

The Act counts a payment date only if it's agreed between you and the client. The date can be fixed or tied to an event, so "14 days from the invoice date" works. But an invoice arrives after the deal is done. If the first time a client sees "7 days" is on your invoice, they never agreed to it, and a client who disputes it can argue you're back on the 30-day default.

So agree the term before the work starts: in your contract, or at least in a written proposal or email the client accepts. Our guide on whether you need a contract covers what else to get in writing. If the client sends its own purchase order terms, read the payment clause before you accept them. Settle one term in writing and make every invoice match it.

Payment terms with private clients

The Act only applies when you and your client are each acting in the course of a business. A sole trader client counts. Someone hiring you to shoot their wedding or design a birthday invitation doesn't.

That means no 30-day default, no statutory interest and no fixed compensation. The date you agree is all you've got, so put it in writing before you start. A deposit on signing and the balance on delivery is often simpler than chasing, and our guide to asking for a deposit covers how much.

Any interest you add yourself has to come from your contract, and it should be modest. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term isn't binding on a consumer, and Schedule 2 names a disproportionately high charge for not meeting their obligations as a term that may be unfair. Something like this keeps it plain:

Payment is due within 14 days of the invoice date. If an invoice is still unpaid [number] days after it's due, simple interest at [rate]% a year above the Bank of England base rate is added until it's paid.

If you ever take a private client to court in England and Wales, the county court can add interest at a rate it thinks fit, even without a contract term.

The bottom line

Pick the shortest term your client can meet, usually 14 or 30 days from the invoice date. Agree it in the contract before you start, with how to pay and, for a business client, a line pointing to the Late Payment Act. Then put the actual due date on every invoice. If you agree nothing, a business client gets 30 days by law, and a private client gets whatever you can prove was agreed.