Debt collection
Additional compensation is recoverable** to indemnify a “supplier” for the expense of appointing bookkeepers, accountants and lawyers to assist with the calculation and recovery of the late payment compensation.
The fixed sums for compensation are:
For invoices up to the value of £1,000 – £40
For invoices over £1,000 and less than £10,000 – £70
For invoices of £10,000 or more – £100
The invoice does not need to be unpaid to make a claim; it only needs to have been paid late. The ‘supplier’ has 6 years from the relevant date to issue a claim at Court.
Debt Recovery – For the recovery of debts up to £100,000
Price and Service Information
The following Pricing and Servicing information is for our Undisputed/Undefended Debt Recovery Service.
All work will be carried out by the completion of forms and exchange of correspondence in compliance with the Pre Action Protocol for Debt Claims and the Civil Procedure Rules.
All work is carried out by or under the supervision of a qualified Solicitor or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.
We charge for work done, regardless of whether or not the debt is ultimately recovered.
Stage 1 – Letter of Claim
Whilst each claim/case is specific (and assuming that no more than 5 invoices are claimed outstanding from any one Debtor), it is usual that we will charge a fee of £150 + VAT (currently at 20%) for:-
– Considering and reviewing the statement of account and invoice(s) which you claim to be outstanding and due from the Debtor and thereafter sending a Letter of Claim to the Debtor; and
– Preparing a County Court Summons (which Summons will accompany the Letter of Claim) based on a basic template; and
– Considering the merits of and including, where appropriate, a claim pursuant to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002 (as amended by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013) and a claim for interest pursuant to Section 69 of the County Court Act 1984 (and/or Section 58 of the Supreme Court Act 1981).
For trade debts, the Letter of Claim will seek payment within the next 7 days, failing which the Summons will be issued.
For consumer debts, the Letter of Claim will seek payment within the next 30 days, failing which the Summons will be issued.
Our charges do not include:-
• Reading any documents other than your copy invoices and a statement of account.
• Any analysis of your case and your prospects of success.
• Investigating your opponent’s financial circumstances and/or ability to pay you.
• Dealing with e-mail and/or letter correspondence from you, your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Telephone calls to and/or from you, your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Dealing with any ad-hoc requests for further information and/or guidance.
• Monitoring the progress of your case or asking you for updates.
• Any advice regarding any changes in the law, which may have an impact upon your case.
To allow the County Court Summons to be promptly issued, we ask clients to provide a cheque drawn in favour of HMCTS in payment of the Court issue fee (at present the Court fees range from £35 for a claim of up to £300, to £455 for claim of greater than £5,000 but no more than £10,000 and to 5% of the value of the claim for claims greater than £10,000 but no more than £200,000).
Stage 2 – Issue of Court Proceedings and Judgment
Should the Letter of Claim not result in the debt being paid and you instruct us to forward the County Court Summons to the Court for issue, we will charge:-
For Debts up to £300 (£75.00 + VAT*)
For Debts between £300.01 to £500 (£80.00 + VAT*)
For Debts between £500.01 to £1,000 (£100.00 + VAT*)
For Debts between £1,000.01 to £1,500 (£125.00 + VAT*)
For Debts between £1,500.01 to £3,000 (£140.00 + VAT*)
For Debts between £3,000.01 and £5,000 (£150.00 + VAT*)
For Debts between £5,000.01 and £10,000 (£175.00 + VAT*)
For Debts over £10,000.01 (5% of the value of the debt*)
*In addition to the above, we charge 25% of the value of any claim made against the Debtor pursuant to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002 (as amended by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013) and interest pursuant to Section 69 of the County Court Act 1984 (and/or Section 58 of the Supreme Court Act 1981).
Our charges do not include:-
• Any analysis of your case and your prospects of success.
• Investigating your opponent’s financial circumstances and/or ability to pay you.
• Dealing with e-mail and/or letter correspondence from you, your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Telephone calls to and/or from you, your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Dealing with any ad-hoc requests for further information and/or guidance.
• Monitoring the progress of your case or asking you for updates.
• Dealing with an acknowledgment of service.
• Dealing with a defence and/or counterclaim.
• Dealing with any application made by your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Preparation for and representation at any court hearing.
• Any advice regarding any changes in the law, which may have an impact upon your case.
Stage 3 – Obtaining of Judgment
Our charges for notifying you when/if Judgment is available and preparing a Request for Judgment for your approval, and providing you with a copy of the Judgment are as follows:-
For Debts between £300 and £1,000 (£75.00 + VAT)
For Debts between £1,000.01 to £5,000 (£85.00 + VAT)
For Debts between £5,000.01 to £10,000 (£100.00 + VAT)
For Debts between £10,000.01 and £100,000 (£150.00 + VAT)
Our charges do not include:-
• Reading any documents other than an updated statement of account.
• Any analysis of your case and your prospects of success.
• Investigating your opponent’s financial circumstances and/or ability to pay you.
• Dealing with e-mail and/or letter correspondence from you, your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Telephone calls to and/or from you, your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Processing any payments.
• Dealing with any ad-hoc requests for further information and/or guidance.
• Monitoring the progress of your case or asking you for updates.
• Dealing with any application made by your opponent and/or any other third party.
• Preparation for and representation at any court hearing.
• Any advice regarding any changes in the law, which may have an impact upon your case.
• Any other work not specifically referred to above.
DISBURSEMENTS – CLAIMS WHICH ARE NOT DISPUTED/DEFENDED
The disbursements envisaged are:-
1) A fee payable to the Court at the time of issuing a Summons;
2) Fees payable to the Court, to the Sheriff, to the Land Registry and others when seeking to enforce any Judgment.
DISPUTED/DEFENDED CLAIMS AND/OR PARTICULARLY COMPLICATED CLAIMS
If the claim is disputed/defended or your claim is particularly complicated, we will provide a copy of the response to the Letter of Claim/Defence and further discuss with you the likely outcome of your case and whether that will justify the likely charges, expenses and risk involved in pursuing the matter.
A fixed hourly fee of £200 + VAT will apply.
No work on disputed/defended cases will be undertaken until we have provided you with a costs estimate and we have your written authority to proceed.
Funds on account of our professional fees and disbursements will be requested.
DEBTOR’S CHARGES AND EXPENSES
It is important that you recognise that, in some circumstances, the Court may order you to pay the Debtor’s legal charges and expenses. The money would be payable in addition to our charges and expenses.
An example of such a circumstances is where Court Proceedings are issued and defended for a claim in excess of £10,000 (i.e. over the Small Claims Limit) and you lose the case.