Writing a letter before action yourself costs only Signed For postage, a solicitor's fixed-fee letter costs from about £35 plus VAT at one firm to £250 plus VAT at another, and Paidnice prints and posts one for US$2.00 (£1.50 in the UK). On a UK business debt you can add £40, £70 or £100 fixed compensation to the debt.
This page is general information for businesses in England and Wales, not legal advice. For a large, disputed or complex debt, speak to a solicitor before you send anything.
A letter before action costs only Signed For postage if you write and send it yourself, about £35 to £250 plus VAT as a solicitor's fixed-fee letter, or US$2.00 a letter (£1.50 in the UK) when Paidnice prints and posts it. The letter itself is short. The cost is in the printing, the posting, and whose name is at the bottom.
| Route | Cost per letter | Who signs it | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write, print and post it yourself | Signed For postage, an envelope and your time | You | One-off debts where you already have the template |
| Paidnice prints and posts it | US$2.00; £1.50 in the UK | You | Any business sending letters every month |
| Solicitor-signed letter through Paidnice | Charged case by case, depending on the country | A solicitor | Debts where a solicitor's name changes the reply |
| Debt collection agency | Set by the agency; ask for the fee in writing first | The agency | Debts you want handed over entirely |
| Instruct a solicitor directly | Fixed fees from about £35 to £250 + VAT (Stephensons £35 + VAT for a company letter; Kingsley Smith £250 + VAT for debts up to £10,000) | A solicitor | Disputed or high-value debts that need advice as well |
When you ask a solicitor for a price, ask for the figure including VAT and ask what the fee covers. A letter-only fee and a fee that includes reviewing the customer's reply are different products.
Send a letter before action when reminders and a final notice have gone unanswered, the customer does not dispute the invoice, and the customer is still trading. If the work is disputed, or the customer is in administration or liquidation, take advice before you send anything.
Yes, for a UK business-to-business debt: the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets you add a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 to each late payment, plus reasonable recovery costs above it.
| Amount of the debt | Fixed sum you can charge |
|---|---|
| Up to £999.99 | £40 |
| £1,000 to £9,999.99 | £70 |
| £10,000 or more | £100 |
These sums are set out on gov.uk's debt recovery costs guide. You can charge each one once per late payment, on top of statutory interest at 8% a year above the Bank of England base rate, unless your contract sets its own rate. Put both in the letter, with the calculation, so the customer sees the full figure before the deadline.
A solicitor's letter fee is treated differently. In the small claims track, which covers claims up to £10,000 under CPR 26.9, CPR 27.14 limits what the court can award to fixed issue costs, court fees and a short list of expenses, so the fee for a solicitor's letter is usually not recovered.
The Late Payment Act fixed sum is different. Section 5A makes it part of the debt itself, and if your reasonable recovery costs exceed the fixed sum you can claim the difference as well.
Add the fixed sum and the interest to your reminders and statements before the letter before action, so the customer has seen the full figure before the deadline.
An ignored letter before action leads to a county court claim, and the court fee to issue it depends on the amount you claim, including interest and fixed compensation. These are the fees on gov.uk's court fees page.
| Amount claimed | Court fee to issue |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Skipping the letter has its own price. Under paragraphs 13 to 16 of the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct, a court can order the party at fault to pay costs, deprive a claimant of interest or award it at a lower rate for a period, and order a defendant to pay interest at up to 10% above base rate.
A wholesaler has a £6,480.00 invoice that is 45 days overdue, and escalating it costs £1.50 for the letter, adds £70 plus interest to the debt, and risks a £455 court fee. Two reminders have gone unanswered. This is each step in turn.
Letter before action cost and claim checker
England and Wales, business customer. Enter the invoice and how late it is. The checker adds the Late Payment Act fixed sum and simple daily interest, then shows the court fee band if the letter is ignored.
£6,480.00 invoice, 45 days overdue, 12.00% a year
The fixed sum and interest count towards the claim, so check the fee band against the total, not the invoice alone.
So the whole path costs £1.50 to send the letter and £455 to issue the claim, while the debt grows by £70 plus interest. The interest and the £70 count towards the claim amount, so check the court fee band against the total, not the invoice alone. Here, £6,480.00 plus £70 is £6,550.00, still inside the £455 band.
A letter before action to a business should give at least 14 days to respond. The Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct says a reasonable time is 14 days in a straightforward case and no more than three months in a very complex one.
When the debtor is an individual or a sole trader, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies instead. The customer gets 30 days from the date at the top of the letter, and the letter must go with an up-to-date statement of account, an information sheet, a reply form and a financial statement form. The full checklist is in our letter before action template.
A letter before action has no expiry date in the rules, but the claim behind it does: under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, a claim on a simple contract in England and Wales must be brought within six years of the cause of action accruing.
The pre-action rules do not pause that clock. Paragraph 17 of the Practice Direction says the protocols do not alter limitation periods, so a creditor close to the six years should issue the claim and ask the court for a stay while the pre-action steps are completed.
You can email a letter before action to a business, but post a copy as well, because a posted letter gives you a dated paper record at the registered address. For a sole trader or an individual, paragraph 3.3 of the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims says the letter should be sent by post, with email only as an addition.
Send the email on the same day as the posted copy, with the same deadline. The customer then cannot say the email went to spam or the letter never arrived.
Paidnice prints your letter before action and posts it for US$2.00 a letter, postage included, on Pro plans and up, and we turn it on for your account when you ask.
In the UK the price is £1.50 a letter, and Pro starts at £74 a month. For other markets, ask us for local pricing.
To switch on posted letters or ask about a solicitor-signed letter, contact us and tell us roughly how many letters you send a month.
The wording of the letter itself is in our letter before action template, which covers both the business and the sole trader versions. Earlier, softer letters are in overdue invoice letters by post from Xero and the collection letter templates. Outside the UK the same letter is usually called a letter of demand.
How much does a letter before action cost?
Signed For postage if you send it yourself. Paidnice prints and posts one for US$2.00, or £1.50 in the UK. A solicitor's fixed-fee letter costs from about £35 plus VAT at one firm to £250 plus VAT at another, and a solicitor-signed letter through Paidnice is charged case by case, depending on the country.
Do I need a solicitor to write a letter before action?
No. For a straightforward commercial debt you can write and send it yourself. Set out the amount owed and the working behind it, the date to pay by, and the next step if that date is missed.
Can I add the cost of the letter to the debt?
Yes, for a business customer. The Late Payment Act fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 covers recovery costs, and you can claim reasonable costs above that.
Is an emailed letter before action enough?
Email it, and post a copy on the same day. The posted letter is the dated record if the claim reaches court, and for a sole trader the Protocol says post is the required channel.
What happens if a letter before action is ignored?
Once the deadline passes you can issue a county court claim. The fee to issue starts at £35 and is £455 for a claim between £5,000.01 and £10,000.
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