How can I get customers to settle unpaid invoices? Debt Recovery

Most businesses experience problems getting paid on time by their customers, but when reminders haven’t worked and there’s a clear unwillingness to pay, you need to use a third party to recover the money that you are owed through unpaid invoices. Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, making this a crucial area of business management.

The first step is to try to resolve the matter without the need for court proceedings. This is done through a pre-action protocol, beginning with a ‘letter of claim’, which the individual debtor has 30 days to respond to, or if it is a company 14 days. In many cases, receiving a letter from a solicitor at this stage is sufficient to prompt the debtor to resolve the matter.

If the matter does proceed to litigation, the court will expect to see that both parties have complied with the pre-action protocol procedure.