Freelancers & Agencies: When the Client Goes Quiet on Your Invoice

The disputes that actually come up

• Silence. Work delivered, invoice sent, then nothing. Often the client is short of cash rather than unhappy.
• "It’s not what we asked for". Raised after delivery, usually about features or rounds of revisions that were never in the brief.
• Scope creep and unpaid extras. Additional work requested by email or chat, then disputed on the invoice.
• Cancelled projects and kill fees. The client pulls the project halfway through and won’t pay for work already done.
• Retainers ended without notice. A monthly arrangement stopped with no notice period honoured.

The law that usually applies

• Contract. Your proposal, statement of work or email exchange is the contract. If no fee was fixed for some work the client asked for, you can usually claim a reasonable sum for it.
• Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. When your client is a business, you can add interest at 8% a year above the Bank of England reference rate and fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice, unless your contract provides its own adequate remedy for late payment.
• Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. In business contracts, the work must be done with reasonable care and skill. For a client who is a private individual, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets the same standard.
• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A freelancer who is not an employee is usually the first owner of copyright in the work, and an assignment to the client must be in writing and signed. What licence the client has before paying depends on your terms, so check them before mentioning copyright in a letter.

If you are owed money, and if you are being sued

Claiming. Identify who you contracted with. If it was a limited company, use its exact name and registered office from Companies House; its directors are not personally liable unless they guaranteed payment. If you worked through an agency, your contract is probably with the agency, not its client. If the job came through an online freelance marketplace, read the platform’s terms first: it may hold the funds and have its own dispute process.

Defending. A client who sues for a refund needs to show the work fell below what was agreed or below reasonable care and skill. Your best answer is the brief, the approved drafts, revision history and messages showing they used the work.

Before you issue: the letter before claim

Which letter rules apply depends on who is claiming against whom. If a business (including a sole trader) claims a debt from an individual, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies: a Letter of Claim with the prescribed information sheet and reply form, and 30 days for the debtor to respond. In every other case, including business against business, the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct applies: a clear letter setting out the claim, the amount and how it is worked out, with a reasonable time to reply, usually 14 days. A court can penalise a party who ignores these steps, for example in costs or interest. Our guide to the letter before claim goes through the contents.

For most freelancers chasing a business, that means a Practice Direction letter giving 14 days. If your client is a private individual, the Debt Claims Protocol applies and you need to allow 30 days with the information sheet and reply form.

The route through the small claims track

1. Build the paper trail. Save the brief or proposal, the client’s go-ahead, every approval or sign-off, change requests, delivery emails and evidence the work is in use (a live site, published copy, a launched campaign).
2. Send one clear reminder. A short, polite reminder with the invoice attached. Many late payers pay at this stage, and it shows the court you were reasonable.
3. Send the letter before claim. State the invoice, the due date, the Late Payment Act compensation and interest (for business clients), and a deadline.
4. Issue the claim online. If the deadline in your letter passes without payment, you can issue the claim yourself through Money Claim Online or the GOV.UK "Make a money claim" service. You state a fixed sum, a short description of the claim and any interest, and pay the issue fee. The defendant needs an address for service in England or Wales.
5. Wait for the response. Once the claim is served, the defendant normally has 14 days to pay, admit, or file a defence, or 28 days in total if they file an acknowledgment of service first. If they do nothing, you can ask the court for judgment in default.
6. Free mediation if it is defended. Most defended small money claims are now referred to a free one-hour telephone session with the HMCTS Small Claims Mediation Service before a hearing is listed. See our guide to mandatory mediation.
7. Directions and the small claims track. If it does not settle, both sides complete a directions questionnaire and the court allocates the case. Claims up to £10,000 normally go to the small claims track, where the procedure is simpler and each side usually pays its own legal costs. The court then sets dates for exchanging documents and witness statements, and you pay the hearing fee.
8. The hearing. Small claims hearings are informal and often short. A district judge reads the papers, asks both sides questions and gives a decision, usually the same day. Our guide to what to expect at the hearing covers the day itself.
9. Judgment and enforcement. If you win and they still do not pay, the court has enforcement options such as a warrant of control or an attachment of earnings order. Each has its own fee.

Time limits

Under the Limitation Act 1980 you normally have 6 years to issue a claim for breach of contract, counted from the date of the breach (for an unpaid invoice, usually the date payment fell due), and 6 years for most negligence and nuisance claims from the date the damage happened. Do not leave it late: gathering evidence and the pre-action period take time.

Where CourtPilot fits

CourtPilot is software for people bringing or defending their own small claim. It is not a law firm, it does not give legal advice and nobody here reviews your case as a lawyer. You decide what to send and you sign it in your own name.

The free case check asks a few questions about your freelance dispute and tells you whether it looks like a small claim, which pre-action rules apply and when the time limit runs out. For a straightforward claim up to about £1,500 it usually suggests the £29 Claim Pack (letter before claim, particulars of claim and the N1, with the interest and fee worked out). Above that it usually suggests the £49 small claims toolkit, which carries the case through mediation, the hearing bundle and enforcement. £1,500 is the point where we suggest one or the other, not a limit: you can choose either. If you are the one being sued, the £49 defence toolkit covers one defended claim. All are one-off payments with a 14-day refund policy.

Court fees for a money claim

Fees depend on the amount you claim, including interest and compensation. If you win, the court normally adds the fees you paid to the judgment.

The issue fee runs from £35 for a claim up to £300 to £455 for a claim of £10,000. If the case goes to a hearing there is a second fee, from £27 to £346 on the small claims track. See the full fee table by claim amount or use the court fee calculator for your exact figure.

Fees from the HMCTS fee list (EX50), last checked against gov.uk on 2026-10-19. Fees change, so check gov.uk before you pay. If you are on a low income you may qualify for Help with Fees (form EX160). Court fees you pay are normally added to the claim and can be ordered against the other side if you win.

Worked example: website copy, approved and unpaid

Related guides and tools

• Unpaid invoice claims: the Late Payment Act claim against a business, in detail.
• Unpaid invoices guide: evidence and letters for any overdue invoice.
• Suing a company: finding the right entity and serving the claim.
• Letter before action generator: start a pre-action letter from your own facts.
• Statutory interest calculator: works out 8% simple interest and the daily rate for the claim form.
• Money Claim Online, step by step: filing the claim yourself and what each screen asks for.