If someone owes you money and they are not paying you, you should speak to them to try to work out a solution.

This may include:

• arranging for them to pay you in instalments; or

• coming to an agreement if they are not paying the debt because they have a dispute with you about the invoice or the goods or services they have bought. If the person is only disputing part of an invoice, you should ask them to pay the part they are not disputing immediately and then sort out the rest separately. Be careful not to harass the person who owes you.

If a business owes you money, you may have the right to claim statutory interest (interest at a set rate) from them. If you cannot recover the debt by speaking to the person or company direct, you may be able to take court action (either by yourself or through a solicitor) or use a debt-collection agency to get the money back. You will need to balance the costs of taking any formal action against how much you would get back, particularly if the company has a reason for not paying or cannot afford to pay. Make sure you have a good

credit-control system (a system for managing money owed to your business) as this can considerably  reduce the problems of late payment and bad debts.