What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay
An escalation sequence with dates attached, what actually recovers money, and the point at which chasing costs more than the invoice is worth.
Escalate on a schedule rather than by mood: a factual reminder at one day overdue, a firmer one at seven, a formal notice at fourteen referencing your payment terms, and a decision at thirty about whether to pursue it formally or write it off. Increasingly annoyed emails on no fixed schedule are the least effective thing you can do.
Late payment is the most common financial problem in freelance work and the one people handle worst, because it arrives wrapped in the fear of damaging the relationship. That fear is usually misplaced. Most late payments are administrative, and the ones that aren’t will not be fixed by politeness.
The escalation sequence
- Day 1 overdue. Short, factual, no apology. Invoice number, amount, date due, payment link. Assume it was missed, because it usually was.
- Day 7. Reply on the same thread. Ask a direct question: has it been approved for payment, and if not, what’s blocking it? You want a person and a status, not a promise.
- Day 14. Formal notice referencing your payment terms and any late-payment clause. Copy anyone relevant in accounts. Tone stays neutral — this is a record, not an argument.
- Day 30. Decision point. Formal recovery, or write it off.
Why does the schedule matter more than the wording?
Because it removes the emotional load that makes people delay. If chasing happens on fixed days, you don’t spend a fortnight deciding whether today is too soon. And a consistent record is what any formal process later depends on.
Stop pausing work as a threat and start pausing it as policy — stated in advance, applied without drama.
Should you stop work?
If your terms say work pauses on overdue invoices, then yes, and say so plainly at day seven. If your terms don’t say that, adding it now reads as retaliation.
This is why it belongs in the contract rather than in the argument. A pause clause is uncontroversial when it’s signed up front and inflammatory when it’s invented mid-dispute.
When is it worth pursuing formally?
Do the arithmetic before deciding, because the emotional weight of an unpaid invoice is not proportional to its size.
An invoice worth this much, against four hours of your time at £100/hour to recover it, breaks even at best — before any fee. The number that matters is your rate, not the balance.
Small claims processes exist in most jurisdictions and are usually designed to be usable without a solicitor, with a fee that scales to the claim. Whether that’s worth it depends on the amount, the evidence you hold, and whether the client has money to recover at all. A judgment against a company with no assets is paper.
Debt recovery procedures, interest entitlements and limitation periods vary significantly by country and sometimes by region. This is general information, not legal advice — check your own jurisdiction’s rules before relying on a specific right or deadline.
What prevents it next time
- Deposits. A client who won’t pay a deposit is telling you something early and cheaply.
- Shorter terms. Net-14 instead of net-30 halves the exposure window.
- Staged payments on longer projects, so the worst case is one stage, not the whole thing.
- A named contact in accounts, obtained at kickoff rather than at day thirty.
- Invoicing on the day the stage completes. Late invoices get paid later.
- Chase on fixed days, not by feeling.
- Get a person and a status, not a promise.
- A pause clause works when signed up front, not when invented mid-dispute.
- Compare recovery time against your hourly rate before pursuing.
- Deposits and net-14 prevent more than any chasing script.
What to do this week
Open your invoice list and note anything past due. Send the day-one email to all of them today, whatever stage they’re at — starting the sequence late still beats not starting it. Then add a deposit line and a pause clause to your contract template.