Commercial debt recovery · United Kingdom
Commercial debt recovery.
Resolved before it becomes litigation.
Specialist pre-legal debt recovery for UK businesses. We combine professional commercial pressure, structured debtor engagement and legally informed escalation to recover outstanding invoices while protecting your time, cash flow and commercial reputation.
- No unnecessary escalation.
- Clear reporting.
- Commercially focused recovery.
[INSERT VERIFIED FEE MODEL — e.g. “No Collection. No Fee on eligible pre-legal recoveries.”] Pricing terms
- Commercial specialists
- UK-wide instruction
- Structured escalation
- Secure case management
- Transparent reporting
[£XXM+ RECOVERED] · [XX+ YEARS COMBINED EXPERIENCE] · [XX% PRE-LEGAL RECOVERY RATE] · [XX CLIENTS SUPPORTED] — figures to be inserted once verified
The position
Unpaid invoices should not become an internal management project.
Your team has already issued the invoice, chased payment and heard the promises. Once routine credit control stops producing results, continuing the same conversation rarely changes the outcome.
What it does produce is cost: hours of finance and management time, deteriorating recovery prospects as the account ages, and a debtor who has learned that non-payment carries no consequence.
That is where specialist recovery begins.
Recovery model
A defined sequence, not an open-ended chase.
- 01
Assess
Review the debt, debtor, contractual documentation, invoices, correspondence, dispute history and commercial circumstances before any approach is made.
- 02
Recover
Make structured written and telephone contact, establish the debtor's position, challenge unnecessary delay and seek payment or an acceptable resolution.
- 03
Escalate
Where voluntary recovery fails, assess the appropriate next step — including formal pre-action correspondence, proceedings or, where justified, insolvency options.
Escalation is never automatic. Formal proceedings and insolvency options are considered only where appropriate, subject to legal assessment, with client authority and where proportionate to the sum at stake.
Services
What we are instructed to do.
Commercial Debt Recovery
End-to-end recovery of business-to-business invoices, from case assessment through structured engagement to proportionate escalation.
Read morePre-Legal Debt Recovery
Recovery activity before proceedings: assessment, structured contact, negotiation and, where justified, formal pre-action correspondence.
Read moreLetter Before Action & Letter of Claim
Correctly framed pre-action correspondence — commercial letters before action, and Letters of Claim where the Debt Claims Protocol applies.
Read moreLate Payment Interest & Compensation
Assessment and pursuit of statutory or contractual interest and fixed compensation on qualifying commercial debts.
Read moreDisputed Debt Resolution
Testing whether a dispute is genuine, resolvable commercially, or a matter requiring legal determination.
Read moreHigh-Value Debt Recovery
Senior handling of substantial single debts where documentation, entity structure and recoverability require close analysis.
Read moreBulk Ledger Recovery
Placement of multiple accounts with segmentation, prioritisation and consolidated reporting.
Read moreInternational Commercial Debt Recovery
Cross-border commercial debts where jurisdiction, governing law and enforcement need to be considered at the outset.
Read moreDebtor Tracing
Locating and confirming the correct debtor entity, current address and trading position before recovery activity begins.
Read moreLegal Escalation
Assessment of proceedings, statutory demands and insolvency options where voluntary recovery has not succeeded.
Read moreJudgment Enforcement Support
Support where judgment has been obtained but payment has not followed, including assessment of enforcement options.
Read moreOutsourced Credit Control
Ongoing pre-delinquency ledger management to reduce the number of accounts that ever require recovery.
Read moreThe distinction
Credit control keeps a ledger disciplined. Recovery deals with what discipline could not fix.
Routine credit control exists to maintain payment habits across a customer base. It works well until a debtor decides, for reasons of cash, dispute or indifference, not to pay. At that point the exercise changes from administration to assessment.
Specialist recovery is not chasing harder. It is establishing the legal and commercial position accurately, and putting it to the debtor in a form they cannot reasonably ignore.
What recovery actually involves
- Case assessment
- Document review
- Debtor intelligence
- Structured contact strategy
- Commercial negotiation
- Dispute identification
- Payment-plan assessment
- Legal risk assessment
- Pre-action escalation
Client experience
Complete visibility. Without having to chase the people chasing your debt.
Named case handler
One person who knows the file, the documents and the history.
Scheduled updates
Reporting at agreed intervals rather than only when you ask.
Email reporting
Written confirmation of position, activity and next step.
Clear escalation recommendations
A reasoned recommendation at each decision point, with the commercial rationale set out.
[INSERT VERIFIED DETAILS OF ANY SECURE CLIENT PORTAL — case status, activity history, documents, payments, notes, reporting and multiple account placement]
Commercial judgement
Firm does not have to mean destructive.
Recovery is most effective when pressure is credible, proportionate and properly timed. Our objective is payment — not unnecessary confrontation. Where preserving an ongoing trading relationship matters, the strategy can be adapted accordingly.
Many clients want the money and the customer. Tell us that at the outset and the tone, sequencing and channel of contact are set accordingly. Where the relationship has already ended, the approach can be correspondingly direct.
Legal framework
Legally informed from the first contact.
Claims against an individual or sole trader
Where a business claims payment of a debt from an individual, including a sole trader, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims can apply. Prescribed information and accompanying forms may be required, and a 30-day response period is significant.
Company-to-company commercial disputes
For ordinary business-to-business disputes, the general requirements of the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols are usually the relevant framework instead.
Interest and compensation
The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 can apply to qualifying commercial transactions, but contractual interest provisions may displace the statutory scheme.
Other considerations
Limitation, the Civil Procedure Rules, the availability of ADR and the appropriateness of insolvency procedures all bear on the route selected.
Every matter is assessed on its own facts and contractual documentation. Information on this website is general information only and does not constitute legal advice.
Tools
Commercial late payment calculator
An indicative calculation of interest and fixed compensation on an overdue commercial invoice. It is a starting point for a conversation, not a demand you should send.
Indicative position
Enter an invoice amount and a payment due date to see an indicative figure.
For guidance only. Entitlement depends on the contract, transaction and circumstances. Figures should be checked before being demanded from a debtor.
Where the statutory scheme applies and has not been displaced, interest on qualifying commercial debts can be calculated at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, and fixed statutory compensation may also potentially apply. This tool uses a base rate of 4.75% — [INSERT VERIFIED CURRENT BANK OF ENGLAND BASE RATE]. Where your contract provides a substantial remedy for late payment, the statutory implied term may be displaced.
Sector expertise
Payment problems differ by sector. So does the recovery strategy.
- Construction & EngineeringPayment in construction is governed as much by notices and contract mechanics as by the underlying work. Recovery has to engage with that, not ignore it.
- RecruitmentRecruitment debts turn on terms of business, evidence of introduction and the timing of objections that are frequently raised only once the fee falls due.
- Professional ServicesFee recovery in professional services requires discretion. The relationship, the engagement terms and the scope record all matter.
- Property & Facilities ManagementProperty and FM ledgers combine recurring charges, contract terms and a wide range of paying parties.
- Transport & LogisticsCarriage debts are frequently met with set-off arguments arising from alleged loss, damage or delay.
- ManufacturingManufacturing debts frequently involve conflicting standard terms and quality allegations raised long after acceptance.
- Wholesale & DistributionHigh-volume trade accounts produce ledgers where the pattern of payment matters as much as any single invoice.
- TechnologyTechnology debts often turn on subscription terms, renewal mechanics and whether a deliverable was accepted.
- Healthcare BusinessesCommercial invoices in healthcare require particular care over confidentiality and the identity of the paying entity.
- EducationInstitutional purchasing cycles and internal approval processes frequently delay otherwise undisputed invoices.
- HospitalitySeasonal cash flow and thin margins make prompt, well-judged recovery particularly important in hospitality supply.
- Accountancy & LegalProfessional practices need fee recovery handled in a way that is consistent with their own professional standards.
- Commercial LandlordsArrears recovery from a tenant who remains in occupation is a different exercise from recovery from a former tenant.
Complex & disputed debt
A dispute doesn't automatically mean the debt is unrecoverable.
Debtors frequently raise quality allegations, pricing disagreements, missing purchase orders, set-off arguments, delivery issues, contractual disputes, claims that invoices were never approved, or assertions that somebody else is responsible.
The first job is to identify whether the dispute is genuine, capable of being resolved commercially, or requires legal determination. A debt subject to a genuine dispute is not treated as unquestionably due.
Recoverability
Before spending money recovering a debt, ask whether the debt is recoverable.
Winning a legal claim and actually recovering funds are separate commercial questions. A judgment against a company with no assets is an expensive piece of paper.
- Companies House information
- Insolvency information
- Trading status
- Known judgments
- Asset and recoverability indicators
[INSERT VERIFIED LIST OF CHECKS ACTUALLY PROVIDED BY THE FIRM]
Knowledge centre
Guidance for finance teams and business owners.
Verification
C Boyd Law Ltd · Company number 16018745
Registered office
St Georges Works, 51 Colegate, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1DD
Instruct us
You have already done the chasing.
Now hand the matter to specialists.
Send us the outstanding account, supporting documents and a brief history of what has happened. We will assess the position and explain the appropriate recovery route.
[INSERT VERIFIED TELEPHONE NUMBER]
Confidential. Commercial. Professionally managed.