Pre-Action Stage (within England & Wales)
Business to Business debt claims (unless debtor is a sole trader)
In any proposed business to business debt claim for the supply of goods or services, we can include in the letter of claim a claim for interest and costs pursuant to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 (“The Late Payment Act”).
Our pre-action charges are the following fixed sums which are recoverable under the Late Payment Act. However, please note that these are payable by you in any event, regardless of whether they are recovered from the debtor or not.
- < £1,000 – £40.00
- > £1,000 – £70.00
- > £10,000 – £100.00
VAT will be applied to the above charges. Please note – VAT is not recoverable from the debtor.
The above charges include all pre-legal correspondence and telephone calls with the debtor (non-disputed debts only).
To illustrate, the above charges cover taking initial instructions, drafting a letter of claim, notifying you of any response to the letter of claim and agreeing repayment or a repayment plan with the debtor.
In the event that the debt is disputed, the case will be referred to our litigation team who will advise you as to the information needed to respond to the dispute and the costs of any response. If the debt is disputed, we may be able to offer fixed fees for dealing with the dispute or if the dispute is more complex, we will advise you as to our hourly rate charges and provide a costs estimate before any work is undertaken.
The above charges relate to one off debts. Please contact our team for a quotation if you are looking to recover a number of debts.
Debts owed by individuals (including business debts owed by a sole trader) where the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies
Our typical charge for the preparation of a bespoke letter of claim pursuant to the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims which came into force on 1 October 2017 is £200.00 plus VAT.
This charge includes taking your instructions and reviewing documentation, preparation of a Protocol compliant letter of claim, receipt of and advising you of any reply received from the debtor. It will also include: the recovery of payment following an admission, the rejection of one instalment offer and the making of one counter instalment offer, chasing for a response if the debtor indicates in his/her reply that they are obtaining debt or legal advice and seeking further clarification if the debtor only responds in part.
If in the reply, the debtor part admits the debt but disputes the balance, or disputes the claim or requests more information or additional documentation; we will advise you as to the likely costs of dealing with this matter for you. This may include referring the matter to the litigation team who will advise what further information is required from you.
If the debt is disputed, we may be able to offer fixed fees for dealing with the dispute or if the dispute is more complex, we will advise you as to our hourly rate charges and provide a costs estimate before any work is undertaken.
In addition, if Alternative Dispute Resolution is appropriate or required pursuant to the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, we will advise you accordingly including details of any associated costs.
Issue of proceedings and Requesting Judgment in default
(A) Our costs for preparing and issuing standard debt recovery proceedings:
(B) Court fees to issue debt recover proceedings:
(C) If the other party does not file a Defence, we would be able to request a Judgment in default on your behalf.
Please note that Interest and collection costs may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost/Court fees.
Recoverable Costs
If a claim is issued and the other party does not file a Defence and a Judgment in default is requested, the recoverable costs itemised under (A) and (C) plus the Court fees listed under (B) would be recoverable and added to the Judgment sum.
Defended Claims
Charges will be based on hourly rates of between £120.00 – £250.00 plus VAT dependant on the complexity of the dispute and the level of fee earner dealing with the matter.
We will advise you as to likely costs on a defended case and recoverability of costs once the Defence is filed. We may be able to offer fixed fees for dealing with defended Small Claims cases.
Enforcement
If any Judgment requires enforcing as itemised below the following charges apply in addition to the above:
Collecting Instalments
In the event that an instalment arrangement is agreed with the debtor, we will charge for collecting instalments and remitting to you. We will advise as to the cost of this depending on the length of the instalment plan.
The above represent our standard charges. Please note, we do reserve the right to vary our standard charges and/or charge for additional non-standard work.
We will notify you in advance in any cases where our standard charges do not apply.
Typical Timescales
Matters usually take 8 – 12 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim. This is on the basis that the other side pays promptly on receipt of Judgement in default. If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve.
The above timescales also do not factor into account any delays in Court issuing the proceedings or entering Judgment.
