First Stop: The BPPC Website

This piece is the second installment to 'Small Business and the Small Claims Court (UK)'.

As a signed-up member of the Better Payment Practice Campaign (BPPC) website, my first step was to visit their website to see what I was required to do in order to adhere to the The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. The BPPC have provided a 'library' of sample letters to help you get paid on time, including a letter informing a debtor that statutory interest and compensation for debt recovery costs will be charged on an existing debt. I have penned a draft letter to the debtor, which will be sent by registered post (as soon as I have definitive information of the cost and process of going to the Small Claims Court (SCC)).

The BPPC is an excellent source of information on the Late Payment Legislation.

Late Payment Legislation

'In November 1998, the UK Government introduced legislation to give businesses a statutory right to claim interest from other businesses for the late payment of commercial debt. The UK was one of the first countries in the EU to introduce late payment legislation to help promote a culture of prompt payment.'

(Source: BPPC website)

Come back soon, as I'll be posting the results of my research on the Small Claims Court process and the (real) costs involved.

Small Business and the Small Claims Court (UK)

So, how easy is it for a small business in England to recover debts from non-paying customers?

As a small business owner I hoped I would never have to find out, but this could just be about to change.

I was contacted in June 2005 via the contact form on my website: the project involved copy-typing a document the customer supplied in hardcopy; he accepted the quote and sent the document via post. I duly typed up the document and sent him the digital version. Once he'd received it and accepted the work as complete, I sent an invoice for the grand sum of £183.19 payable within 14 days. After several gentle e-mail reminders I sent a reminder via registered post. He responded some several days later saying he couldn't afford to pay, and could he pay in installments? I wrote back saying it wasn't usual policy, but as he was in difficulty he could pay in two instalments - one due immediately, the other in 30 days time.

No payments were forthcoming, and there has been no response to my last e-mailed demand for payment.

Work and a lot of procrastination techniques have delayed my doing anything further, then came Christmas, the New Year, and... now?

Well, now I've decided it would be a good exercise to take this non-payer to the Small Claims Court here in the UK, but where do I start? Everyone I ask has a different response: it's not worth the hassle; it'll take up all your time; you'll never get the money if he's broke; it'll cost you more than he owes you; go ahead, I did it and got my money; it was easy; etc, etc.

I also thought it might be useful to keep a record (or 'blog', if you will) of the process, cost, and time-scale involved, and I've decided to do this online for the reference of other victims of that all elusive irritant, the non-payer.

That's the background dealt with. My next entry will describe the first steps I've taken to recovering the debt. Wherever possible I will try to include a link to any online resources I've found pertinent.

Wish me luck...

Freelancealot.co.uk Launches New Website for 2006!

We are proud to launch our new website for 2006. We have redesigned the site to make navigation easier, to make it more cross-browser friendly, and more accessible to the visually impaired and those who use the keyboard for navigation (rather than a mouse). XHTML and CSS have been used to separate content from layout, resulting in improved performance and compatibility with web standards compliant browsers. Designing web sites in XHTML and CSS makes it easier to build sites that meet the growing number of laws and policies regarding web accessibility.

We hope you find the new site easy to use and easy on the eye. If you experience any problems whilst browsing the site, please contact us via our contact form, giving the page/s and the problem (please also let us know which browser you use (eg, Internet Explorer v6) and the operting system (eg. XP Pro (SP2), OSX 10.2.8).

We'll miss Cyber Guinevere, Cyber Pendragon, Web-Alchemist Merlin, Midi-Minstrel, Lady of the Links, and Morgan Le FAQs! In fact, we're so fond of the old site that we've left it online, so if you're feeling nostalgic... click here!