The size of the problem, with a source #
£5,901
Owed on average in unpaid invoices
NOW Report 2026
67%
Say a customer has deliberately delayed or disputed a payment
NOW Report 2026
Both come from the NOW Report 2026, run by Powered Now with Installer across 140 UK tradespeople and reported by PHAM News on 22 July 2026.
That second number is the one that changes the conversation. If two thirds of firms are dealing with deliberate delay rather than forgetfulness, then a politer reminder is not the answer, and neither is working harder at remembering to send it. What the law gives you is a set of consequences, and what most firms give away is the right to use them.
The cost of not using them shows up as time. A tradesperson on the Screwfix Community forum described a spell of good trading in these terms.
spent two days phoning around for invoices to be settled
Two days is not a cash flow problem, it is a fortnight's margin spent on the phone.
When an invoice is actually late #
This is more precise than most people assume, and it is worth knowing exactly, because every consequence below hangs off the date.
-
If you agreed a payment date
The payment is late the day after it.
-
If you agreed nothing
GOV.UK states the payment is late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice, or 30 days after you deliver the goods or provide the service, whichever is later.
-
Agreed terms have limits
For a public authority the date must be within 30 days. Business to business it must be within 60 days, and a longer period can be agreed only if it is fair to both businesses.
What you are entitled to add #
| Entitlement | Amount | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory interest | 8 per cent plus the Bank of England base rate | Business to business debts, where the contract does not set a different rate |
| Fixed debt recovery sum | £40 | Debt up to £999.99 |
| Fixed debt recovery sum | £70 | Debt of £1,000 to £9,999.99 |
| Fixed debt recovery sum | £100 | Debt of £10,000 or more |
| Reasonable recovery costs | Actual cost | Claimable in addition to the fixed sum for each recovery attempt |
Two conditions matter. The fixed sum can be charged once for each late payment, not once per reminder. And if your own contract or terms specify an interest rate, that rate applies instead of the statutory one, which is a good reason to know what your terms actually say.
None of this applies to work for a householder. A domestic job is a consumer contract and a different body of law governs it, including the information duties covered in following up a quote.
Which parts of the chase run on rules #
Almost all of the early part, and none of the end of it.
Runs on rules
- Knowing which invoices are unpaid and how many days over they are, which is a date subtraction
- Working out the statutory interest accrued on each one, which is arithmetic on a published rate
- Sending a reminder at a fixed number of days
- Attaching the proof the customer will ask for, such as the signed job sheet, if the document is filed against the job
Needs a person
- Deciding whether to actually charge interest on this customer, which is a relationship decision
- The call where you ask a good customer what is going on
- Deciding to stop working for them, or to escalate
The pattern is the same one that runs through this whole section. Knowing, calculating, prompting and attaching are mechanical. Deciding and persuading are not.
The document that ends most disputes #
A large share of "deliberately delayed or disputed" payments are disputes about what was done. The defence is the paperwork that already exists.
- The signed job sheet
- The photographs
- The certificate
- The variation the customer agreed to on site
Whether that material can be produced in thirty seconds or has to be hunted for decides how the conversation goes, and that is a filing question rather than a credit control one.
If the jobs generate compliance documents anyway, and in most trades they do, there is a strong argument for treating the customer copy and the invoice evidence as the same problem. See electrical certificates and EICRs for the version of this that also has a legal deadline attached, and use the cost of chasing payment to put hours against your own chasing.