Summary
- A letter before action is the formal warning before court. Courts in the UK expect you to send one before taking any other legal action.
- You can write it yourself, pay a solicitor a fixed fee (£20 to £40 + VAT for a standard letter), or hand the invoice to a debt collection agency.
- Give a business 14 days to respond. Sole traders and individuals get 30, under stricter rules.
- In Trove’s experience, a solicitor’s letter prompts payment from customers about 60% of the time.
What is a letter before action
A letter before action is a formal letter telling the customer what they owe, giving them a deadline, and warning that you will start a court claim if they don’t pay.
Courts expect you to send one before issuing a claim. If you skip it, a court can penalise you on costs or interest, even if you win. For where it sits in the full escalation process, see when to hand an invoice to a debt collection agency.
When to send a letter before action
Send one when:
- Your reminder sequence has run and a final demand with a deadline has gone unanswered.
- The invoice isn’t disputed. If the customer says the work or the invoice is wrong, sort that out first.
- The customer is still trading. Check Companies House. If they’re in administration or liquidation, a letter before action won’t help.
- A payment plan is not realistic. If it is, offer that first. Here’s when to offer a payment plan.
Three ways to send a letter before action and what each costs
You don’t need a solicitor to send a letter before action, but a solicitor’s letterhead often gets a response where yours didn’t.
| Write it yourself | Fixed-fee solicitor’s letter | Debt collection agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | Postage, plus your time | £10 to £40 + VAT for a standard online letter (£30 + VAT through Trove). | Commission of roughly 8% to 25% of what’s recovered |
| How you order it | You write and post it. You can automate this with Trove | Fill in an online form with the debtor’s details and the balance. You can automate this with Trove | Hand over the invoice and chase history |
| Who it comes from | You | The solicitor’s firm, on its letterhead | The agency, in its name |
| Deadline given | You choose. 14 days is standard between businesses | Often 7 days on standard letters. Some let you choose 7, 14 or 30 | Set by the agency |
| Where payment goes | To you | To you. The solicitor doesn’t collect it | Usually to the agency |
| Best for | Smaller balances, or customers you want to keep | Customers who’ve ignored you, where you want a serious letter without committing to court | Larger balances, or when you want someone else to run recovery and any legal action |
You can generate the standard letters via an online form. You fill in the details, the firm issues the letter the same or the next working day, and no solicitor reviews your case. Letters drafted to order cost more because a solicitor reviews the invoice (usually around £200+), your terms and the correspondence first. For an undisputed invoice, the standard letter is usually enough.
What a fixed-fee solicitor’s letter looks like
Most standard solicitor’s letters are short. This is roughly what the customer receives.
[Solicitor firm name]
Our ref: [reference] · Date: [date]
[Customer name]
[Customer postal address]
Dear Sir/Madam,
Re: [Business Name]
We act for business [Business Name], which has asked us to request payment of your outstanding account of £[balance].
Unless you pay this account in full within seven days of the date of this letter, our client will start court proceedings to recover the debt, interest and court costs without further notice.
Payments and queries should be made directly to: [Business Name]
A few things most letters will have in common:
- It’s short. It doesn’t itemise invoices or argue the case. Its job is to show you’re serious.
- Payment and queries come back to you. The solicitor doesn’t collect the money or handle disputes. Make sure whoever answers your phone and inbox knows the letter has gone.
- It only needs a few details: the customer’s name and postal address, your reference for the debt, the balance, and your contact details.
Setting a deadline for payment
- Business to business: the courts’ Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct treats 14 days as a reasonable time to respond in a straightforward case. Many standard solicitor letters give 7 days. That’s fine as a prompt, but if the customer still hasn’t paid and you’re going to court, wait until at least 14 days have passed before issuing.
- Sole traders and individuals: the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies. The letter has to be posted, include a statement of account, an information sheet, a reply form and a financial statement form, and give 30 days to respond. Many standard fixed-fee letters are only for limited companies and partnerships, so check before ordering one for a sole trader.
For anything complex or high value, check with a solicitor.
What to include if you write it yourself
For a letter to another business, the must-haves include:
- The invoice numbers, dates and total owed
- Any interest and fixed compensation you’re claiming under the Late Payment Act. Our guide to UK late payment fees explains what you can add, and the late payment fee calculator works it out for a specific invoice.
- A clear deadline, with 14 days as the standard
- How to pay, and who to contact with questions
- A plain statement that you’ll start a court claim if they don’t pay or reply by the deadline
Send it by post and email, and keep proof of postage.
What happens after the letter
If they pay or reply: good. If they propose a payment plan, it’s often the fastest way to actually get the money. Our payment plans guide covers how to set one up.
If they don’t: court is a separate decision. Don’t treat it as the automatic next step. Before you issue a claim, check:
- Can they pay? A judgment against a business with no money recovers nothing.
- What will it cost? Court fees depend on the amount. For example, it costs £455 to issue a claim between £5,000.01 and £10,000. Enforcement costs come on top if they don’t pay after judgment.
- Is it worth your time? Defended claims take months.
If court isn’t worth it, you can hand the invoice to a debt collection agency, or write it off and claim the VAT back through VAT bad debt relief.
How Trove helps automate letters before action
- Firstly, it reduces the need for a letter before action. Most invoices are paid after one or two reminders. Here’s how many reminders you should send.
- You can send your own letters by post as part of the workflow. Add letter steps near the end of the sequence, such as a final demand, written in the same editor as your emails. Trove prints and posts them for £2.99 per letter.
- You can send a solicitor’s letter before action from Trove for £30 + VAT. Trove works with approved solicitors. It securely passes the customer’s name, address, balance and invoice references from Xero to the solicitor, who puts them on their letterhead and sends the letter. There’s no form to fill in.
- Once you’ve sent a letter before action, exclude the invoice so your automated reminders stop and the customer only hears one message.
- Export the chase history if it goes further. You get every reminder, when it was sent and who received it, which gives a solicitor or agency the evidence from day one.
Trove runs a free 30-day trial and takes about 15 minutes to connect to your Xero account. You can start a free trial here or book a demo if you’d like to see it first.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a letter before action cost? A standard fixed-fee solicitor’s letter costs roughly £10 to £40 + VAT. A letter a solicitor drafts to order costs more, typically £100 to £255 + VAT. Writing your own costs only postage. If you use Trove, you can send a solicitor’s letter before action for £30 + VAT.
Can I write my own letter before action? Yes. There’s no requirement to use a solicitor. Include what’s owed, how it’s calculated, a deadline and what you’ll do if they don’t pay. A solicitor’s letterhead often gets a response where your own letter didn’t.
How long do I have to give the customer? For a limited company, 14 days is treated as reasonable in a straightforward case. For a sole trader or individual, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims requires 30 days.
Can I send a letter before action by email? Between businesses, email alongside post is fine, and sending both makes it harder to claim it never arrived. For sole traders and individuals, the Pre-Action Protocol expects it to be posted unless they’ve asked for email.
What happens if they ignore a letter before action? You can start a court claim, hand the invoice to a debt collection agency, or write it off. Check whether they can actually pay before spending money on court.
