Schedule
Chase on a set timetable, and start before the invoice is late. A friendly reminder costs nothing. The timetable below is our recommendation, not a legal rule. The Small Business Commissioner's advice on unpaid invoices follows broadly the same order: a polite reminder, then direct contact, then interest, then a final demand, and legal action as a last resort. A Commercial Payments Bill is before Parliament but is not law; this post describes the law today.
| When | What to send | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| 3 days before | Heads-up email | Friendly |
| Due date | Reminder with bank details | Friendly |
| 3 days after | Short chaser | Polite |
| 7 days after | Email, then a phone call | Direct |
| 14 days after | Firm email, interest | Firm |
| 30 days after | Final notice | Formal |
Before you send anything, check the invoice. The Commissioner's first step is to check the payment terms and make sure the invoice has no errors that could have delayed it. Its step for resending an invoice adds that you should double-check the bank details. Send every message to the person who pays invoices, not only to your usual contact.
Templates
Copy these and fill in the square brackets. Keep each message short, with the amount, the invoice number, the due date and how to pay, so nobody has to look anything up.
3 days before the due date
Subject: Invoice [number] is due on [date]
Hello [Name],
A quick note that invoice [number] for £[amount] is due on [date]. It is attached again, with our bank details: [account name, sort code, account number]. Please use [number] as the payment reference.
If anything needs changing before then, such as a purchase order number, reply and we will sort it straight away.
Thank you,
[Your name]On the due date
Subject: Invoice [number] is due today
Hello [Name],
Invoice [number] for £[amount] is due today. Our bank details are [account name, sort code, account number], with [number] as the reference.
If you have already paid, thank you, and please ignore this message.
Kind regards,
[Your name]3 days after
Subject: Invoice [number] for £[amount]
Hello [Name],
We have not yet received payment for invoice [number], which was due on [date]. Could you let us know when we can expect it?
If the invoice did not reach the right person, or something is missing, tell us and we will resend it today. A copy is attached.
Kind regards,
[Your name]7 days after, send this text or email, then ring if there is no reply within a day:
Hello [Name], it is [Your name] at [business]. Invoice [number] for £[amount] was due on [date]. Is there anything holding it up, and when can we expect payment? Thank you.14 days after
Subject: Invoice [number] is now 14 days overdue
Hello [Name],
Invoice [number] for £[amount] was due on [date] and is now 14 days overdue. Please pay by [date, 7 days from now].
If there is a problem with the invoice, please tell us now so we can sort it out. Otherwise, we may add statutory interest and the fixed fee to the amount owed, as the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 allows.
Kind regards,
[Your name]30 days after
Subject: Final reminder: invoice [number] for £[amount]
Hello [Name],
Invoice [number] for £[amount] was due on [date] and remains unpaid, despite our reminders on [dates].
Please pay in full by [date, 7 days from now]. If we have not received payment or a reply by then, we will send a formal letter before action and, if it is still unpaid after that, may start a court claim.
Kind regards,
[Your name]Use the interest wording in the 14 day email only for a business customer. The law does not cover a customer who is buying for themselves. For the formal letter that follows the 30 day email, see our guide to a letter before action.
A free 30 minute call. We look at where your admin time goes.
Interest
If your customer is a business, you can add statutory interest from the day after the due date, plus a fixed fee. Interest is 8% a year over the Bank of England's Bank Rate, which was 3.75% on 30 June 2026, so 11.75% for interest that starts between 1 July and 31 December 2026. The fixed fee is £40, £70 or £100 by the size of the debt, and you can only charge it once for each payment. Statutory interest does not apply if your contract sets a different, substantial late payment remedy.
Our late payment interest calculator works out the figures for your dates and writes a sentence to paste into your message. GOV.UK says to send a new invoice if you decide to add interest. You can mention interest in the 14 day email and still decide later whether to charge it.
Letter
If the final notice is ignored, the next step is a letter before action. It is the formal last letter before a court claim, and it says what is owed and by what date you will start one. Send it when the 30 day notice has passed with no payment or reply, or sooner if the customer has stopped answering altogether.
Our guide to the letter before action has a template for a company debtor and one for an individual or sole trader, because the rules differ.
Court
A court claim is the last step. GOV.UK calls it a court claim for money and says it was once known as taking someone to a small claims court. This is general information for England and Wales, not legal advice. Scotland and Northern Ireland have a different process, which GOV.UK links to.
You can make the claim online on GOV.UK, unless the amount is unknown, you are claiming for more than one person or organisation, there are 3 or more defendants, the debtor has no address in England or Wales, or you are claiming against a government department. You need the name, address and email address of the person or business you are claiming from, and a debit or credit card for the fee. The fee is based on the amount you claim, including interest, and you can usually claim it back if you win. If you want interest, you must include it in the claim. Older guides call the online service Money Claim Online.
| Claim amount | Court fee |
|---|---|
| Up to £300 | £35 |
| £300.01 to £500 | £50 |
| £500.01 to £1,000 | £70 |
| £1,000.01 to £1,500 | £80 |
| £1,500.01 to £3,000 | £115 |
| £3,000.01 to £5,000 | £205 |
| £5,000.01 to £10,000 | £455 |
| £10,000.01 to £200,000 | 5% of the claim |
| More than £200,000 | £10,000 |
These fees are from GOV.UK's court fee table, read on 2 November 2026. If the customer does not respond, you can ask the court for a judgment. If they dispute a claim of £10,000 or less, you must attend free telephone mediation. If they still dispute it, you may need a hearing and an extra fee. Asking the court to collect the money costs a further fee.
If you are a small business owed money by a larger one, the Small Business Commissioner may be able to help before you reach court. Its enquiry page says how to ask.
Software
Your accounting software can send the early reminders for you. We read each vendor's own help page on 2 November 2026.
| Tool | Reminders | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Xero | Before and after due date | Up to five |
| QuickBooks | Before and after due date | Reminders 1 to 3 described |
| FreeAgent | Rules, with repeats | No number stated |
The limits matter here. Our schedule has six steps, so in Xero or QuickBooks automate the first three or four steps and send the 14 and 30 day messages yourself, because those are the ones worth reading before they go.
Xero, from Set up and add invoice reminders:
- In the Sales menu, select Invoices.
- Click Invoice Reminders: Off.
- Tick the Email customers when an invoice is checkbox, then click Save. Xero's three default reminders are now on.
- To add one, click Add reminder, choose due in for before the due date or overdue by for after, and enter the days. Use 0 for the due date, then click Save.
Xero sends up to five reminders, and its defaults go out 7, 14 and 21 days after the due date. Reminders only go for invoices marked as sent, and they are sent every day between 4am and 8am. Replies go to the login email of whoever turned them on. A second Xero help page gives the route as Sales settings, then Invoice settings, so look there if the first does not match your screen.
QuickBooks Online, from Intuit's help article:
- Go to Settings and select Account and settings.
- Select the Sales tab.
- In the Reminders section, select the edit icon.
- Turn on Automatic invoice reminders, then turn on Reminder 1.
- Choose the days and Before or After, then Save.
You can schedule reminders up to 90 days before or after the due date. Intuit describes a first, second and third reminder but states no maximum. Reminders go only for invoices you have already emailed, and one template covers all invoices.
FreeAgent, from its help article:
- Open the drop-down under your business name and select Settings, then Email Templates.
- Select Add Invoice Reminder.
- Under Invoice Reminder Rules, enter the days and before or after the due date. Tick Send recurring reminders? to repeat it until the invoice is paid.
- Select Create Invoice Reminder.
- On each invoice, in the Emails section, tick Email payment reminders if the invoice goes unpaid.
FreeAgent does not send reminders for draft invoices. If two reminder templates fall due on the same day it sends only one, so give them different intervals.
Tunewell
The free way above works without us. Set up the reminders in your accounts software, keep the templates somewhere you can find them, and send the firm ones yourself. The Invoices Chased item on our Automation Menu sends polite reminders on a schedule until you are paid. It is one of the three Quick Wins you can choose with a Check-Up.
A Check-Up is £495 for up to 10 staff, and a Full Review is £995 for 11 to 30: see Pricing. We take no commission from any tool, so if the reminders in your accounts software are enough, we will say so.
You will be talking to Theo.