How to take a client to small claims court over an unpaid invoice

You don't need a solicitor to take a client to court over an unpaid invoice in England and Wales. The claim is an online form, and the fee depends on how much you're owed. Before you file, you have to send a proper letter before claim. If the client disputes a claim of £10,000 or less, you'll have a free mediation call before any hearing. A win gets you a court order rather than the money, and if they still don't pay, collecting it is a separate step.

This is the route for a debt nobody is really arguing about: the work was done, the invoice went out and the reminders went unanswered. If your client says the work was wrong or late, start with what to do when a project goes wrong instead.

Check the claim is worth making

A claim costs a fee and a few evenings, so check these first.

• Does the client still exist? Look the company up on Companies House. If it's in liquidation or administration, a court claim is the wrong tool, and what happens when a client goes bust covers the right one.
• Can they pay? A judgment against a client with no money won't get you paid. A client who's slow but still trading is a much better bet than one who has stopped.
• Are they in England or Wales? The online service needs an address there for both of you. Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own processes.
• Can you prove it? Gather the contract or the email where they agreed the work and the price, the invoice, and every reminder you sent. You'll need all of it if they dispute the claim.

Send a letter before claim

Courts expect you to warn the other side properly before you sue. If you skip it, the judge can cut the interest you're awarded or order you to pay costs, even when you win. That comes from the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct.

Which rules apply depends on who your client is.

• Your client is a limited company. Your letter says what's owed, for what work, how you've worked out the total including interest, and that you'll issue a claim if it isn't paid. The Practice Direction treats 14 days as a reasonable time to respond in a straightforward case.
• Your client is a sole trader or a private individual. The Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies. Your letter needs set details, including the amount, whether interest is still running and how they can pay. You also enclose the protocol's own Information Sheet and Reply Form, and give them 30 days to send the form back. If they reply asking for time or for debt advice, you wait longer.

Send it by email and by post, and keep a copy. It's the first message that mentions a court, and it gives your client one last clean chance to pay before you spend anything.

Add the interest and the fixed fee

If your client is a business, the law lets you add statutory interest at 8% over the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed fee for the cost of chasing that rises with the size of the debt. Gov.uk sets out both. If your contract names a different interest rate, that rate applies instead.

If your client is a private individual, the usual rate is a simple 8% a year.

When you claim a fixed amount, you work the interest out yourself, and the claim states a daily rate so interest keeps adding up until judgment. Our free late payment interest calculator does the sum for a business debt. Put the interest and the fixed fee into the claim from the start: the court fee is based on what you claim plus interest.

Make the claim online

Most freelancers can use the online service at Make a money claim. You'll need:

• your client's name, address and email address
• for a company, its registered office from Companies House, so the claim goes to its official address
• a short, plain account of what you did, what you invoiced and when it was due
• the amount owed, the interest and the fixed fee
• a debit or credit card for the court fee

The court fee rises with the size of the claim and is calculated for you online. Gov.uk has the full table. You may be able to get it back if you win, and if money is tight you can apply for help with fees while you fill in the claim.

You need the paper form, N1, instead if you can't put an exact figure on the claim, you're claiming against three or more people, or either of you has no address in England or Wales.

What happens after you file

The court sends your claim to the client and tells you the date they have to respond by. From there it usually goes one of three ways.

• They pay. Update the claim in your online account to say you've been paid.
• They ignore it. Once the deadline passes, you can request judgment through the same online account, with no hearing.
• They dispute it. If the claim is £10,000 or less, you'll be told you must attend mediation. It's free, it's a phone call of up to an hour, and a court mediator talks to each of you separately. Take it seriously: if you don't attend or don't make a real effort, the judge can strike out your claim or order you to pay costs.

If mediation doesn't settle it, there's a hearing. For a claim under £10,000 it can be held in the judge's room rather than a full courtroom, you can represent yourself, and you get a decision on the day, according to gov.uk. Expect a questionnaire from the court and a further fee along the way.

Getting a judgment paid

A judgment orders your client to pay. It also gives them a reason to: a county court judgment that isn't paid in full within a month stays on record for six years, and gov.uk warns it can make it hard to get credit.

If they still don't pay, you can ask the court to enforce the judgment. Each option has its own fee.

• Find out what they can pay. The court can order the client, or an officer of a client company, to attend court and answer questions about their finances.
• Send bailiffs. A warrant of control lets enforcement agents ask for payment and, if it doesn't come, look for goods to sell.
• Take it from wages. An attachment of earnings order works where an individual client is employed.
• Freeze a bank account. A third party debt order holds money in the account until the court decides whether it goes to you.
• Charge their property. A charging order means you're paid out of the sale when the property is sold.

The bottom line

You can run a claim for an unpaid invoice yourself, from the letter before claim to enforcement. The two steps with the most rules are the letter, which is stricter when your client is a sole trader or an individual, and the interest, which belongs in the claim from the start. If your client pays at any point along the way, update the claim and stop there.