A customer hasn’t paid for work you’ve done

You finished the job. You sent the invoice. Nothing. This is what to do next, in the order worth doing it, with the wording you can copy.

Written for UK sole traders and tradespeople. Last updated 7 September 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

First, work out whether it is actually late

If you agreed payment terms, the invoice is late the day after those terms run out. If you never agreed anything, GOV.UK is explicit: payment is late 30 days after the customer receives the invoice, or after you finished the work, whichever is later.

Most unpaid invoices at this stage are not disputes. They are admin. The invoice went to a personal inbox nobody reads, or it is sat in a pile on a kitchen worktop. That is worth remembering before you write anything sharp, because the first message you send sets the tone for every one after it.

The ladder

Work through these in order. Do not skip to the bottom because you are annoyed. Each rung costs you more time, more money, or more of the relationship than the one above it.

1. 1. A reminder, a few days late Assume it was forgotten, because it usually was. Friendly, short, invoice attached again.
2. 2. A firmer note, around 14 days State the amount, the date it was due, and ask a direct question: when will it be paid?
3. 3. A final reminder, around 30 days Say plainly that this is the last reminder before you take it further, and mean it.
4. 4. A letter before action A formal letter setting out the debt and giving a deadline, usually 14 days, before you issue a claim. Sending one is a step you have to take before court anyway.
5. 5. Money claim online The small claims track covers debts up to £10,000 in England and Wales. There is a court fee, it takes months, and you still have to enforce a judgment if they ignore it.

Rungs four and five cost real time and real money, so it is worth working the first three properly before you get near them. The uncomfortable part is that none of this is clever. It is mostly a matter of asking again, in writing, on a schedule.

Three messages you can copy

Swap the brackets for your details. Keep them short. Long messages read as anxious, and anxious reads as negotiable.

Only write “I’ll have to pass it on” if you are willing to. A threat you do not follow through on teaches your customer that your deadlines are decorative, and it can put you the wrong side of the law. See below.

What you can charge, and the catch

If your customer is another business, late payment legislation lets you add statutory interest plus a fixed sum towards recovery costs:

Current rates and the detail are on GOV.UK. Adding interest is your right and your decision. It is also a lever you can only pull once, and pulling it tends to end the relationship.

What not to do

• ×Do not threaten what will not happenSaying you will send bailiffs, or implying criminal consequences, when you have no such intention or right, is how a chase becomes harassment under section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.
• ×Do not turn up at the houseIt will not get you paid, and it will get you a complaint.
• ×Do not post about themNaming a customer publicly risks defamation and tells every future customer what you are like when a payment slips.
• ×Do not go quiet for six weeks then explodeThe most common pattern, and the worst. Silence reads as acceptance, and the sudden anger at the end reads as unreasonable even when it is not.

If they say the work was not right

That is a different problem with different rules, and the customer has to let you put it right before they can withhold money. Read the guide to disputed work.

Keep the paper trail

Whatever you do, keep every message, dated. If it ever reaches a letter before action or a claim, a tidy record of polite, reasonable, ignored requests is worth more than anything you can say afterwards. It is also the one thing you cannot reconstruct later.