They are late paying you. That has a price, and it is not zero.
On an overdue business invoice you can charge statutory interest at 8 points above the Bank of England base rate, currently 11.75% a year, plus a fixed sum towards the cost of chasing it. You do not need a late payment clause in your contract. It is already in there.
First invoice free. You keep 100% of what you recover, because we never touch the money. Invoices up to £10,000, UK company to UK company.
The right rate
Fixed by when the debt fell overdue, not by today's base rate.
Interest and the fixed sum
Both entitlements, with the section of the Act each one comes from.
A letter they can check
Line by line, so their accounts team verifies it instead of arguing.
A £4,800.00 invoice, 137 days late
This is what the Act entitles you to ask for, and the arithmetic is checkable by whoever reads your letter. That is the point: it is not a threat, it is a sum.
An illustrative example, not a real customer. Your figures depend on your invoice amount and the date it fell due.
- Invoice
- £4,800.00
- Statutory interest
- £211.69
- Fixed sum for recovery costs
- £70.00
- Total you can ask for
- £5,081.69
The principal debt
137 days at 11.75% a year
Section 5A, set by the size of the debt
Four steps, and you send the letter
Put in the invoice
Number, amount, the date you issued it and the date payment was due. Whose invoice it is and what the work was.
See what you can actually ask for
The invoice, plus statutory interest from the day after it fell due, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 towards your costs. With the sections of the Act that say so.
Send the letter
A formal request for payment showing the figures, so their accounts team can check the arithmetic rather than argue with it. Copy it, download it as a PDF, or open it in your own email.
Chase, and log what happens
Nothing back in two weeks? A second letter with the interest brought up to date, then a letter before action if it comes to that. Mark it paid when the money lands.
Every day it sits there, it is costing them more
They are counting on you not bothering. Put the invoice in and see the number.
NoReply is an information tool, not a law firm and not a debt collection agency. We never contact your debtor and we never take a cut.
Questions a finance person actually asks
- Can I charge interest on a late invoice if my contract does not mention it?
- Yes. Statutory interest is an implied term of every business-to-business contract under section 1 of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. You do not need a late payment clause. If your contract does set its own interest rate, that rate applies instead of the statutory one.
- How much interest can I charge on an overdue commercial invoice?
- 8 percentage points above the Bank of England base rate. The rate is fixed by the base rate in force on the 30 June or 31 December before the debt fell overdue, and it then stays put for the life of that debt. For invoices falling overdue between 01 July and 31 December 2026, that is 11.75%.
- What are fixed recovery costs?
- A fixed sum you can add to the debt for the trouble of chasing it, under section 5A of the same Act (inserted by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002). It is £40 on debts under £1,000, £70 from £1,000 to £9,999.99, and £100 at £10,000 and above. It is per invoice, not per chase letter.
- Does NoReply collect the debt for me?
- No. We are an information tool, not a debt collection agency and not a law firm. We work out what you are owed, cite the law, and write the letter. You send it, and you keep every penny you recover. We never contact the debtor.
- What if they still do not pay?
- You can send a letter before action, then issue a claim in the County Court. Under £10,000 that is the small claims track, which is designed for people representing themselves. We write the letter before action. We do not file claims, and for anything genuinely complex you want a solicitor.
- Does this work for consumers who owe me money?
- No. The Act covers debts between businesses, both acting in the course of a business. If a private individual owes you money, this is not the route and none of these figures apply.
Owed money as a private individual rather than a company? That is the consumer side of NoReply, where different law applies. If a customer has complained about your company, that is NoReply for business.