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Debt recovery

The letter before action, drafted for you

England & Wales pre-action rules · statutory figures calculated in · you review and send

What you get

Tell it who owes you, how much, and since when. It identifies which pre-action track your debtor is on, calculates the statutory interest and fixed compensation, and drafts the compliant letter — on your letterhead, with the figures shown, ready for you to review and send. One credit; a finished document, not a template.

Why the letter is not one-size-fits-all

In England and Wales, who your debtor is decides which letter the court expects. A company or LLP gets a letter before claim under the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct — concise details of the claim and how the money is calculated, with a response due in a reasonable time: 14 days in a straightforward case. An individual or sole trader is covered by the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims instead: a fuller Letter of Claim with the protocol’s Information Sheet, Reply Form and Financial Statement enclosed, and 30 days from the date of the letter before proceedings.

Most templates ignore that split. Use the wrong one and you either wait a month you never owed a company, or start against an individual early and hand them a costs argument. The tool asks the question first and drafts accordingly — the full rules are in our guide to the letter before action.

The numbers go in, because the numbers do the work

A late commercial debt carries statutory interest at the Bank of England base rate plus 8% — 11.75% for debts that went late in the second half of 2026, fixed for the life of the debt — plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice under s.5A of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. The tool calculates all of it from your due date and states the daily rate the debt is growing at. A letter where the number grows every day reads differently from one where it stands still. What you can charge on a late invoice shows the working.

The escalation, in order

  1. Payment reminder. Polite, dated, with the statutory entitlement mentioned once.
  2. Letter before action. The compliant letter for your debtor’s track, full figures, a real deadline.
  3. Pre-action pack. For individual debtors, the protocol enclosures; for companies, the letter of claim ready for issue.

Each step is one credit. Most debts do not survive step two: a compliant letter with correct figures reads as the first page of a court bundle, because it is.

Scotland and Northern Ireland run different court procedures with their own pre-action expectations — the tool tells you when your debtor is outside the England and Wales rules rather than pretending they are not. The statutory interest and compensation themselves apply UK-wide.

Your first 100 documents are free.

Start with the invoice that annoys you most. Reminder, letter before action and pre-action pack — drafted, calculated, reviewed by you.

Start your free trial

The law this stands on

  • Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, paras 1.1, 3.1 — justice.gov.uk
  • Practice Direction — Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols, para 6 — justice.gov.uk
  • Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, ss. 4, 5A — legislation.gov.uk
  • Checked against our verified-facts register

Almost Legal is AI drafting software grounded in UK law, not a law firm — you review and send everything it produces. General information on this page is not legal advice for your situation.