When a payment becomes late
- If you agreed a payment date, it must usually be within 30 days for public authorities and 60 days for business transactions
- You can agree longer than 60 days between businesses, but the terms have to be fair to both sides
- If you agreed nothing, the law says the payment is late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice, or 30 days after you deliver the goods or provide the service, if that is later
What you can claim on top of the invoice
Where the customer is a business and you are chasing for goods or a service, you can claim interest on the late payment and the costs of recovering the debt, at the rates and fixed amounts set out in the regulations. Both are separate from the invoice itself, and both depend on the payment actually being late.
A reminder schedule that keeps the job
- Invoice the same day, with the due date written on it, not just the invoice date
- Confirm the invoice was received, which is the point most late payments are really about
- On the due date, a short nudge that restates the date and asks when it will be paid
- A week over, ask directly and mention that interest and recovery costs apply from the due date
- Two weeks over, put it in writing and set a date you expect payment by
- A month over, decide whether it is a letter before action or a conversation you would rather not have
Keep the evidence as you go
If it ever comes to a claim, the paperwork that matters is the one you usually keep least: the terms the job was agreed on, the proof of delivery or sign-off, and the record of the reminders you sent. Keeping them with the job rather than in a separate file is what makes them findable two months later.
That is the part TradeKit handles as a side effect: the quote is agreed and signed off in the app, the invoice carries its own due date, and the reminders go out on a schedule rather than when someone remembers. The record of what was agreed and when stays against the job, which is exactly what a late payment argument needs.