5 Polite Ways to Chase an Unpaid Invoice (UK Templates Inside)

There's a particular kind of dread that hits at about half eleven on a Sunday night. You're going through the books, you spot an invoice from six weeks ago, and you realise the customer hasn't paid. And then you spot another one. And another. Suddenly you're owed four grand from people who waved you off cheerfully when the job was done and have gone radio silent ever since.

I've watched proper good tradespeople go under because of this. Not because the work dried up. Because they couldn't get paid for the work they'd already done.

The frustrating thing is that most late payments aren't malicious. The customer hasn't decided to stiff you. They've just buried the email under a hundred others, or they're waiting for their own pay packet, or it slipped their mind because life is busy. Once you accept that, the chasing process gets a lot easier because you're not constantly thinking the worst of people.

Here's the five-stage approach that works for the trade businesses I deal with.

Stage 1: The friendly nudge (day 1 after due date)

Send this the morning after the invoice goes overdue, not three weeks later. The longer you leave it, the harder it gets and the more the customer assumes it's not urgent.

Keep it warm. Assume they've forgotten. Don't lead with grievance.

Hi [Name],

Hope you're well. Just a quick note that invoice [number] for the [boiler service / kitchen install / whatever] is showing as overdue on my system, due [date]. It's £[amount].

If it's already been paid in the last day or so please ignore this and apologies for the duplicate, banking can take a few days to clear. Otherwise here's the link to pay online: [link]

Cheers, [Your name]

Three things going on here. You've assumed the best, you've made it easy to pay, and you've given them a face-saving out if they actually have paid and you've missed it. About 60% of overdue invoices get paid within 48 hours of this email.

Stage 2: Slightly firmer (day 7 after due date)

A week later, no payment, no response. Time to escalate the tone slightly without being aggressive.

Hi [Name],

Following up on invoice [number], £[amount], now seven days overdue.

I haven't heard back so wanted to check there isn't a problem with the work or the invoice itself. If there's a query I'd rather know about it so I can sort it.

If everything's fine and it's just been missed, the payment link is here: [link]. If you'd rather pay by bank transfer the details are on the invoice.

Could you let me know either way by [date 7 days from now]?

Thanks, [Your name]

The phrase "is there a problem with the work or the invoice" is doing heavy lifting here. It surfaces complaints early. If the customer thought you missed something on the job, this is when they'll tell you. Better to know now than to find out via a Trustpilot review three months later.

Stage 3: Phone call (day 14)

This is where most tradespeople give up because they hate making the call. Don't. Pick up the phone.

You're not asking for the money in an aggressive way. You're calling because emails clearly aren't getting through and you want to make sure everything's alright on their end. Keep the tone the same as you'd use if you'd run into them at the supermarket.

"Hi [Name], it's [Your name] from [Business]. Just calling because I've not heard back from you on a couple of emails about the invoice for [job]. Just wanted to check in and see if there's anything you need from me to get it sorted."

Nine times out of ten the response is "Oh god, sorry mate, completely forgot, I'll do it now." If the response is something else (job complaint, money worries, whatever), at least you know what you're dealing with. You can negotiate a payment plan, sort the dispute, whatever's needed.

If you cannot get them on the phone, leave a friendly voicemail and follow up with a text. Keep a record of every attempt because you'll want it later if this escalates.

Stage 4: Late payment letter with statutory interest (day 30)

Now we're in formal territory. Most people don't know this exists, but UK law (the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998) lets you charge late payment interest and fees on overdue commercial invoices, automatically. Domestic invoices are different, you'll need to check your terms, but for any business-to-business work it applies by default.

The interest rate is 8% above the Bank of England base rate. With base at 4.5% in May 2026, that's 12.5% per year. You can also charge a fixed compensation fee depending on invoice size: £40 for invoices under £1,000, £70 for £1,000 to £9,999, £100 for £10,000 plus.

Your letter should include:

• The original invoice number, date and amount
• Your standard payment terms (30 days, 14 days, whatever)
• The interest accrued so far (calculated daily)
• The compensation fee
• A new total
• A clear deadline (usually 7 days from this letter)
• A line saying you'll commence county court proceedings if not paid by that deadline

Send it by email AND by recorded post. The recorded post bit matters because it proves delivery if you end up in court.

This letter alone usually gets the money in. Customers who've been ignoring emails suddenly find a way to pay when they realise they owe an extra £140 and you're serious about court action.

Stage 5: Money Claim Online (day 45+)

If the formal letter doesn't work, you've two choices. Write it off (sometimes the right call for small amounts), or take them to the small claims court via the Money Claim Online service at gov.uk.

Court fees scale with the amount you're claiming, from £35 for amounts under £300 up to £455 for £5,000 to £10,000. You add the fee to your claim. If you win (and for unpaid invoices with clear evidence you almost always do), they pay it back.

The process is genuinely simple for amounts under £10,000. It's online, you don't need a solicitor, hearings happen at your local county court, and most cases are decided on paperwork without a hearing at all because the customer doesn't bother defending. A County Court Judgment (CCJ) gets registered against the customer's credit file for six years which is often enough motivation for them to pay quickly to get it set aside.

Realistic timeline from filing to judgment: 8 to 16 weeks. From judgment to enforcement (bailiffs, charging orders, attachment of earnings) another 4 to 12 weeks. So this isn't a quick fix, but it works, and the threat of it works even faster.

Prevention beats cure every time

The single biggest thing you can do to avoid all of this is take a deposit. 25% to 50% on materials-heavy jobs, paid before work starts. This filters out time-wasters, covers your material costs if the customer goes weird, and creates psychological commitment from the customer that they're going to see the job through.

Other prevention measures that pay off:

Send invoices the same day the job's done. Not a week later, not on a Sunday when you do the books. Today, while it's fresh and they're still pleased with the work.

Get card payments enabled. Customers paying by card on the doorstep have a 0% chance of becoming late payers. Bank transfers create friction, friction creates delays. Stripe, Square, SumUp, take your pick, the fees are tiny compared to the chasing time you save.

Have written terms. A two-page terms sheet that says "payment within 14 days, late fees of X% per month, interest under the Late Payment Act may apply" gives you legal teeth when needed and most customers accept it without question because it looks professional.

Use software that automates the chasing. Manually emailing customers every time an invoice goes overdue is soul-destroying and you'll forget. A proper job management system sends the chase emails automatically based on rules you set, so you only get involved when something needs human attention.

Quick wins

Right now, today, you can:

1. Pull a list of every overdue invoice you have
2. Send the Stage 1 friendly nudge to the lot of them
3. Note the ones that don't pay within 48 hours for a Stage 2 follow-up next week

You'll likely have at least half of them paid by the end of the week. The rest you've got a process for now.

If you don't fancy writing your own templates from scratch, our free invoice template generator gives you a properly formatted UK invoice with all the right legal bits (VAT, terms, payment details) in PDF format. Free, no signup, takes a minute.

Cashflow problems aren't an inevitable part of running a trade business. They're a sign that the chasing process needs work. Fix the process, not the symptoms.