Client Not Paying? Here's What You're Actually Entitled To (2026)

Ask any tradesperson what the worst part of the job is, and it’s rarely the early starts or the weather. It’s chasing money that’s already yours. Late payment is the most-cited frustration whenever you talk to sole-trader plumbers, electricians, builders and gas engineers — nearly every one of them has at least one overdue invoice on the books at any given time.

That’s not a small annoyance. That’s real cash flow, sat in someone else’s account, doing nothing for you.

Most sole traders assume a late-paying client is just something you absorb — a cost of doing business. It isn’t. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, and reinforced by government efforts to strengthen small-business late-payment protections, you’re entitled to:

• Statutory interest on overdue invoices at 8% above the Bank of England base rate.
• A fixed compensation feeper overdue invoice, on top of the interest — £40, £70 or £100 depending on the invoice size.
• The right to recover reasonable debt-recovery costs above that fixed fee, if you can evidence them.

Important: these rights apply to commercial (B2B) invoices only. If you’re invoicing a private homeowner, the Act doesn’t apply and the picture is different — scroll to “What if the client’s a homeowner?” below.

Most tradespeople never claim any of this. Not because they’re not owed it — because nobody told them, and chasing it feels like more hassle than it’s worth. The deep-dive on statutory interest walks through the exact numbers with worked examples.

A few patterns come up again and again:

• The slow fade— invoice acknowledged, then silence.
• The renegotiation— “can we agree a lower figure” after the work’s already done.
• The scope-creep excuse— disputing the invoice because “extra work” wasn’t in writing.

None of these are really about the money. They’re about whether the client thinks you’ll push back. Tradespeople who invoice properly, on time, with clear terms — and who follow up methodically — get paid faster than ones who let it slide because chasing feels awkward.

1. Put payment terms on every invoice, in writing, before the job starts — not as an afterthought.
2. Follow up the moment an invoice is overdue, not weeks later. The longer it sits, the easier it is to ignore.
3. Know your rights and use them.Mentioning statutory interest in a follow-up message changes the tone of the conversation immediately — the client realises you know what you’re owed.
4. Keep a paper trail.Quotes, invoices, and follow-ups in one place make any dispute — or small claims case — far easier to win.

The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 doesn’t apply to invoices to private individuals. That doesn’t mean you’re defenceless — it just means the rules are different:

• You can still charge interest on overdue invoices if it’s a term in the contract you agreed at quote time— consumer contracts need the term to be explicit and fair. A line on the quote reading “overdue invoices attract interest at 4% APR” is enforceable if the client accepted the quote.
• Send a letter before actionif payment is still outstanding after 30 days past due — a clear, dated notice that sets out what’s owed and gives 14 days to pay before you file at small claims.
• Small claims trackhandles debts up to £10,000 for a fixed court fee (roughly 5–10% of the debt). Most consumer non-payment cases don’t reach a hearing — a court letter is usually enough.

In Honest Invoices, mark your client as a consumer on the client detail page and the app suppresses the statutory interest language automatically — you don’t want to accidentally cite the wrong Act on a homeowner chase.

Honest Invoices was built with this exact problem in mind. Payment terms are baked into every invoice. Overdue tracking is automatic. Chase emails at day 21+ quote your statutory entitlement with the exact figures — when you’re owed it — and use non-statutory language on consumer invoices. The paper trail is already in order if it ever needs to go further.

You shouldn’t need to become an amateur debt collector just to get paid for work you’ve already done.

Try our free late-payment calculator — no signup, takes 30 seconds, gives you the exact amount owed and a ready-to-send reminder.

It should be the baseline — and increasingly, the law agrees with you.