Letter before action for an unpaid invoice (UK)

If a business client still has not paid after your reminders, a letter before action is the last written step before a court claim. Fill in the details and get a plain, professional letter to paste into an email or document. It is built in your browser and nothing you type leaves this page.

When to send one

• After your own reminders. A letter before action works best as the fourth or fifth message, after a friendly nudge, a firm reminder, a second notice and a final notice. See the reminder email templates for those earlier steps.
• Send it so you can prove it. Email is fine; keep the sent copy. If the client has a registered address, posting a copy as well makes it harder to say they never saw it.
• Be accurate. Only claim what you are owed. Overstating the debt or the interest can count against you if it goes to court. Use the late payment interest calculator for the figures.

What the letter should contain

For a claim against a business, the court expects you to have tried to settle first (the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct, published on justice.gov.uk). In practice that means a letter that says what the debt is, what you want, a reasonable deadline (14 days is common for a simple unpaid invoice), and what you will do next. It should also invite the client to explain a dispute. The template above includes all of those. The pre-action rules for debts owed by individuals (not businesses) are different; this page is for business clients only.

What happens next

If the deadline passes, the usual route for a debt of this size is a money claim through the court service, described on gov.uk. Court fees depend on the size of the claim, so check the current fee on gov.uk before you start. Chasebook does not file claims or give legal advice.

This is a wording aid, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, and your contract may set out its own steps. For large or disputed debts, speak to a solicitor or a free advice service such as Citizens Advice.

Keep track of which invoices have reached this stage in Chasebook, the free-for-five-invoices chase list that works out interest and logs every promise to pay.