Letter Before Action UK Explained — What It Is and When to Send

If you're a UK self-employed tradesperson with an unpaid invoice that's gone past the polite-reminder stage, the next step is a Letter Before Action (LBA). This is the formal pre-claim notice that UK courts expect to see before you issue a small claims filing. Sending one is also psychologically powerful — most debtors who've ignored two informal chasers pay up within days of receiving an LBA, because it signals you're serious.

What an LBA actually is

A Letter Before Action (also called a Letter Before Claim) is a written notice from a creditor to a debtor giving formal notice of intention to issue court proceedings if the debt isn't paid within a stated period (typically 14 days). It's not a court document; it's not legally required for every claim; but it's strongly expected by the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols. Skipping it can affect the costs the court awards you if you win — judges expect parties to try to resolve disputes before going to court, and an LBA is the standard evidence that you tried.

When to send it

The right time is after two informal reminders have failed. The typical escalation:

• Day 0–30: payment window. Don't chase.
• Day 31: first friendly reminder. Tone is neutral; assume the customer forgot.
• Day 45: second, slightly firmer reminder citing the Late Payment Act 1998 (without yet claiming the interest).
• Day 60–75: Letter Before Action with 14-day deadline.
• Day 80+: file a claim through Money Claim Online if unpaid.

Sending an LBA before two informal reminders looks aggressive and can hurt your case. Sending one after 6+ months of silence loses leverage — debtors who've ignored you for that long usually have a reason (no funds, deliberate non-payment) and are unlikely to be moved by another piece of paper.

What must be in an LBA

The Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (which technically applies only to claims by businesses against individuals, but is the de facto template for all UK debt LBAs) requires:

• Clear identification of the debt: invoice number, date, amount, what for
• Statement of the legal basis for the claim
• An explanation of how the figures are calculated (including any interest and compensation under the Late Payment Act)
• Information on how the debt may be paid
• A clear deadline (typically 30 days for B2C consumer debt under the Protocol; 14 days is standard for B2B trade invoices)
• Warning of intention to issue court proceedings if payment isn't made
• Information about the consequences of a court judgment (CCJ on the debtor's credit record, costs added)
• A statement that the debtor can contact you to dispute the debt or propose a payment plan

How to send it

Send via recorded delivery post AND email AND your usual messaging channel (WhatsApp, SMS). Three deliveries with proof of each means the debtor can't credibly claim they never received it. Keep:

• Royal Mail recorded delivery proof-of-postage receipt
• Email send confirmation (and screenshot if the email service shows it as delivered/read)
• WhatsApp screenshot showing the message was sent and the time

What you can claim in an LBA

Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 — which applies to B2B invoices only — you can claim:

• The outstanding principal of the invoice
• Statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate (around 12.25% annual rate in mid-2026), accruing daily from the day after payment was due
• Statutory compensation of £40 (invoices under £1,000), £70 (£1,000–£9,999), or £100 (£10,000+)
• Reasonable debt-recovery costs (court fees, recorded postage, solicitor costs if you instructed one)

Use our late payment calculator at /late-payment-calculator to work out the exact figure to cite. The total often ends up 10-15% above the original invoice for moderately-late B2B debts.

What happens if it's ignored

If the deadline passes (typically 14 days) with no payment and no substantive response, you have three options:

1. File a claim through Money Claim Online (gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money). Court fees range from £35 (claims up to £300) to £455 (claims £5,000-£10,000). Once filed, the debtor has 14 days to defend or pay.
2. Instruct a debt-collection agency. They typically charge 10-25% of the recovered amount. Suitable for larger debts where you don't want the admin of small-claims.
3. Instruct a solicitor for a formal solicitor's LBA. Costs £150-£400; carries more weight than a self-sent letter. Worth it for £10,000+ debts.

Most debtors pay before it reaches court — the threat of a CCJ on their credit record (which sits there for six years and affects their ability to obtain credit, sign new tenancies, or trade with new suppliers) is usually enough.

When LBAs don't work

LBAs are weakest when:

• The debt is genuinely disputed and the customer has a credible reason for non-payment
• The debtor is insolvent — no amount of pressure extracts money that isn't there
• The debtor is a company about to be dissolved or in administration — different legal route (statutory demand, winding-up petition)
• The debt was based on a verbal agreement with no supporting written documentation

The single biggest reason invoices reach LBA stage

Most invoices that reach the Letter Before Action stage do so because nobody chased them in week 1, week 2, or week 4. The longer an invoice sits unpaid, the harder it is to recover — both because the customer's memory of the work fades, and because they've already redirected the cash elsewhere. The fix isn't a better LBA; it's automatic chasers on day 3, day 7, day 14 overdue. Wedge sends them automatically — and most invoices that would otherwise reach LBA stage get paid in the first reminder cycle.