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Late Payment: Your Legal Rights as a UK Business

Statutory interest, compensation and recovery costs — the rights most small businesses never use, and how to invoke them.

19 June 2026 6 min read

You are entitled to statutory interest

Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts legislation you can charge interest at the Bank of England base rate plus 8% on overdue business invoices, plus fixed compensation depending on the debt size.

Default terms if none are agreed

Where no payment terms are written, 30 days applies by default. Putting explicit terms and your interest policy on every invoice makes enforcement straightforward later.

Escalate in a structured way

Reminder, formal demand with interest applied, letter before action, then the small claims process. Most debts settle at the letter-before-action stage when it is clearly written and evidently serious.

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