Commercial debt recovery
Money owed to your business by another business, recovered with everything the law adds on top. Accounts are assessed on their evidence, run under one point of control, and taken as far as they justify — up to court action and enforcement — while late payment is made to cost the debtor, not you.
What the law entitles you to claim
For qualifying business-to-business contracts, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you three things on top of the debt itself, without needing any clause in your contract — our guide to statutory late payment interest and compensation covers the detail:
Statutory interest
8% per year above the Bank of England base rate, running from the day the invoice became overdue.
Fixed compensation
A fixed sum per overdue invoice — £40, £70 or £100 depending on the invoice value (see below).
Reasonable recovery costs
Where fixed compensation doesn't cover them, the reasonable costs of recovering the debt can also be claimed.
| Invoice value | Compensation you can add |
|---|---|
| Up to £999.99 | £40 |
| £1,000 to £9,999.99 | £70 |
| £10,000 or more | £100 |
We calculate and claim these statutory sums as standard on every eligible B2B case — separate from your original principal, so that late payment costs the debtor. How recovered sums beyond the principal are applied is confirmed in your written terms.
What we recover
Unpaid invoices and trade debts
Single invoices or running accounts, from one-off disputes to persistent slow payers, for limited companies, LLPs, partnerships and sole traders. Step by step: unpaid invoice recovery.
Contract and retention debts
Construction retentions, milestone payments and sums due under supply or service agreements, including where a dispute is being used as a delaying tactic.
Cross-border UK debts
A debtor being based in Scotland or Northern Ireland does not by itself determine where proceedings must be issued. For cross-border instructions we check the contract, transaction and jurisdictional facts at assessment. Where the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, the recovery and court process proceeds through England and Wales; if a judgment later requires enforcement elsewhere in the UK, the appropriate local registration and enforcement route may then apply.
Professional fees and service charges
Accountancy, consultancy, design and agency fees, recruitment placement fees, and unpaid commercial service charges — work delivered, invoiced and ignored.
Personal guarantees
Where a company debt is backed by a director's or third party's written guarantee, the guarantee may open a second route to recovery — its terms and enforceability are checked at assessment before it's relied on.
Judgment enforcement
Already have a CCJ the debtor is ignoring? Enforcement is coordinated on your behalf: warrants of control, attachment of earnings and charging orders, pursued through the courts and the authorised officers those steps belong to — and where an England and Wales judgment must be enforced against a debtor or assets in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the appropriate local registration and enforcement route is then considered.
Evidence that strengthens a commercial claim
Commercial recovery is won on paperwork long before it's won anywhere else. The documents that do the heavy lifting:
The agreement
A written contract or your terms and conditions, purchase orders, and anything showing the terms were supplied and accepted before the work was done.
The delivery
Invoices and account statements, delivery notes, sign-offs, timesheets and the emails around them — proof the goods or services were actually provided.
The acknowledgement
Payment history, part-payments, promises to pay and any written acknowledgement of the balance — often decisive, and relevant to limitation too.
No written contract? That does not automatically prevent recovery — many trade debts rest on invoices, conduct and correspondence — but it does make the surrounding evidence matter more, which is exactly what the free assessment weighs before anything is spent.
Disputed commercial debts
"They're disputing it" describes three different situations, and telling them apart early saves real money:
Non-payment
No real objection — just delay, silence or excuses. The core collection case: structured pressure and, where justified, escalation are the response.
Genuine dispute
A substantive objection about the goods, the work or the terms. That's a contractual disagreement needing assessment — and possibly negotiation, mediation or appropriately authorised legal representation — not a louder demand letter.
Tactical dispute
An objection raised late, vaguely, or only once collection starts, to buy time. We test it against the paper trail and advise you whether it has substance or is theatre.
We tell you honestly which one you have. Pressing collection against a dispute with real merit wastes your money and can count against you later — so genuine disputes are assessed properly, not steamrolled.
Solvency and recoverability
A judgment against an empty company is a certificate, not money. Before and during every case we check whether the debtor:
Still trades
Active filings, a trading address and current activity — or a company gone quiet, which changes the urgency and the route.
Can pay
Accounts, existing county court judgments, charges over assets and payment behaviour — signals of whether recovery will mean actual money.
Is already insolvent
Liquidation, administration or winding-up proceedings change everything: collection against the insolvent estate must stop, claims are lodged with the insolvency practitioner, and any guarantee or retention-of-title angle is checked instead.
This is why debtor status and solvency are checked at assessment — sometimes the most valuable advice is not to spend anything further.
The B2B recovery process
Assessment and quote
We review the invoices, contract terms and the debtor's status (including Companies House and insolvency checks) and give you a written fee quote and a candid view of recoverability.
Formal demand
A letter before action setting out the debt, statutory interest and compensation, with a clear deadline. Where the debtor trades as an individual or sole trader, the letter complies with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, which allows them 30 days to respond.
Pursuit and negotiation
Structured chasing by letter and email. Where a debtor has genuine cashflow difficulty, a short, secured repayment plan can beat a long court fight — but that's your call, made with our advice.
Litigation and enforcement
Where proceedings are justified, we first confirm jurisdiction. For cases we accept on an England and Wales jurisdiction basis, appropriately authorised professionals are instructed for court proceedings and other reserved legal work through the appropriate England and Wales court route, and enforcement steps reserved to authorised officers are carried out by them, with Upfront Legal coordinating the client instruction until the money is in your account — where a judgment must be enforced against assets elsewhere in the UK, the applicable local enforcement procedure is then considered.
Deciding on court action
Escalation to court is a commercial decision made deliberately, and only after five questions are answered: does the claim have merit on the evidence; is the amount proportionate to the cost of pursuing it; is the debtor recoverable against; where does jurisdiction lie on the contract and transaction; and what will it actually cost, in court fees and any authorised professionals the case needs. Nothing is issued until you've approved a written costs schedule with the break-even visible — and where the answers say "don't", we tell you that instead.
Enforcement after judgment
A judgment is the licence to enforce, not the money itself. Depending on the debtor's circumstances, enforcement of an England and Wales judgment can involve:
Enforcement agents
Court-authorised enforcement agents or High Court Enforcement Officers taking control of goods under the applicable procedure — carried out by those authorised officers, coordinated on your behalf.
Orders against income and money
Attachment of earnings against a salary where legally applicable, or a third-party debt order freezing and redirecting money owed to the debtor, such as a bank balance.
Charging orders and insolvency
A charging order securing the judgment against the debtor's property, or — where the debt and circumstances genuinely justify it — statutory demand and insolvency routes, used as a last resort, not a first threat.
The right tool depends on what the debtor has; enforcement steps reserved to authorised officers and professionals are carried out by them, instructed and coordinated as part of the case. And where an England and Wales judgment must be enforced against a debtor or assets in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the appropriate local registration and enforcement route is then considered — as set out above.