Statutory interest on a late commercial debt is the Bank of England base rate plus 8%.
← Almost Legal
Verified facts
The numbers, and where each one came from
Why this page exists
Legal figures go out of date quietly. Statutory interest resets twice a year, appeal win rates move with each annual report, and a page that was right in June is wrong in January without anything visibly changing.
So every figure we publish is read off its primary source, recorded with the date it was read, and given a date it stops being trustworthy. When that date passes, our build fails until someone re-checks it. This is that register.
Late payment and debt recovery
What you can add to an unpaid commercial invoice, and when the clock starts. The reference-rate rule below is the detail most published advice gets wrong.
The base rate used is the one in force on 30 June (for interest starting 1 July–31 December) or 31 December (for interest starting 1 January–30 June) — fixed once, on the day interest starts to run.
It attaches to the debt, not the calendar. If the Bank moves in September, or the reference date rolls over on 31 December, the rate on that invoice does not change. Advice quoting today’s base rate is quoting the wrong number.
For a commercial debt where interest started running between 1 July and 31 December 2026, statutory interest is 11.75% — and stays 11.75% until that invoice is paid.
Bank Rate was 3.75% on 30 June 2026, unchanged since 18 December 2025.
Fixed compensation is payable per unpaid debt on top of interest: £40 under £1,000, £70 from £1,000 to £9,999.99, and £100 at £10,000 or more.
Per debt, not per customer — nine unpaid invoices of £800 carry nine lots of £40. And it is a floor: where reasonable recovery costs exceed the fixed sum, the difference is recoverable too (s.5A(2A)).
Where no payment date is agreed, the debt goes late after 30 days — for every purchaser, not 60.
The widely-quoted 30 and 60 day figures are ceilings that cut back an agreed payment date (s.4(2D), s.4(2E)), not defaults. Silence on your invoice puts you on 30 days, not 60.
A contract term excluding statutory interest is void unless the contract provides a substantial contractual remedy for late payment.
A large customer’s terms capping late-payment interest at a token rate may not survive the test in s.9 — which weighs bargaining power and whether the term was imposed unilaterally.
Fines, appeals and recharging drivers
What happens when a fine lands on a company vehicle — how often challenges succeed, and what an employer may lawfully take from a driver’s pay.
Around half of challenged parking fines succeed. Appellants won 49.4% at London Tribunals in 2024-25, with 47.6% at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and around half at POPLA.
This is the win rate for fines that were appealed — a self-selected group. It is not a measured rate across all fines. The London figure fell from 54.9% the previous year.
At POPLA, the private-parking appeals service, 50.5% of the appeals that completed its process in 2024-25 ended with the parking charge cancelled — 54,100 of 107,202.
POPLA counts withdrawals by either side among completed appeals, so this is not computed the same way as the tribunal rates, which are allowed ÷ (allowed + refused). Put POPLA on the tribunals’ basis and it is 48.0%. Either way it is around half. Of the 54,100 cancellations, 39,522 (73.1%) were never contested at all — the operator withdrew in 34,502 of them, the motorist in 5,020.
Only 0.45% of London penalty charge notices are ever appealed to a tribunal.
47,935 appeals against 9,462,185 PCNs issued. More than 99% are never formally challenged.
An employer may only deduct from wages where a statute allows it, a written contract term the worker had in advance allows it, or the worker consented in writing before the event.
The timing is the trap. A signature obtained after the ticket arrived does not authorise the deduction — s.13(6) says consent does not cover conduct occurring before it was given.
Minimum wage is not a backstop on recharging a fine. Where the worker is contractually liable, the deduction falls outside the National Minimum Wage calculation.
Regulation 12(2) carves out deductions in respect of the worker’s conduct where the worker is contractually liable. The clause that makes the deduction lawful under s.13 is the same clause that removes the minimum wage floor — so s.13 and over-recovery are the real limits, not NMW.
A private parking operator can pursue the registered keeper in England and Wales, but not in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The Schedule 4 keeper-liability paragraphs do not operate in Scotland or Northern Ireland, where the operator must prove who was driving.
Unauthorised deduction from wages is the third most common employment tribunal complaint — 13% of jurisdictional complaints, behind unfair dismissal (23%) and disability discrimination (16%). There is no fee to bring a claim.
What this page does not claim
These are the figures we have read off a primary source ourselves. Where a number in our research could not be confirmed at source, it is labelled where it appears rather than presented as verified — the fine economy report separates official figures, secondary sources and our own calculations, and keeps a standing list of its own data gaps.
Jurisdiction is stated wherever it bites. England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ materially on debt recovery procedure, employment procedure and parking enforcement, and a figure that holds in one does not automatically hold in the others.
These are the numbers your letters should be using.
Almost Legal drafts fine appeals, debt-recovery letters and contract reviews grounded in the law above — with the figures shown, so you can check them. Your first 100 documents are free.
Start your free trialGeneral information about UK law, not legal advice for your situation. Almost Legal is AI drafting software grounded in UK law, not a law firm — you review and send everything it produces.