Debt Recovery Costings

This information relates to the recovery of undisputed debts arising out of unpaid invoices where enforcement is not required.

Debt value	Court fee	Our fee	Total
Up to £5K	£35 to £205	£900 (including VAT in the sum of £150)	£935 to £1,105
£5,001 - £10K	£455	£1,500 (including VAT in the sum of £250)	£1,955
£10,001 - £100K	5% value of the claim subject to the statutory maximum	£2,400 (including VAT in the sum of £400)	£2,400 plus 5% value of the claim

Court fees are set by stature and may change. The above fees are calculated on the basis that the claim is submitted using the HMCTS online portal.

Important information:

The VAT element of our fee may not be recoverable from your debtor.
The VAT referred to above is at the prevailing rate of 20%.
The fees apply per debtor and per claim.
Interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost.
The costs quoted above are not for matters where enforcement action, such as the bailiff, is needed to collect your debt.

What is included in the fixed fee

Our fixed fee covers all work up to and including judgment in default (where no acknowledgment of service is filed). This includes:

Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation
Undertaking appropriate searches
Sending a Letter Before Action
Receiving payment and sending onto you.
Drafting and issuing court proceedings if payment is not received.
Where no Acknowledgment of Service or Defence is received, applying to the court to enter Judgment in default
When Judgment in default in received, write to the other side to request payment
If payment is not received within 7 days, providing you with advice on next steps and likely costs

What is not included in the fixed fee

The following work is not included in the fixed fee:

Dealing with a defended claim
Attendance at any hearing
Enforcement action (including enforcement agents, attachment of earing, charging order, third party debt orders or insolvency proceedings)
Instruction of tracing agent
Service by process server (if required).

If any of the above becomes necessary. We will provide clear advice and a cost estimate before proceedings.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments made to third parties on your behalf. These may include:

Court issue fee (as set out above)
Court hearing fee (if the claim becomes defended)
Enforcement fees (if enforcement action is required)
Search fees
Process server fees

We will inform you of any additional disbursements before incurring them. VAT may be payable on certain disbursements.

Timescales

Matters usually take 5-15 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, this depends upon:

Whether the debtor pays following the Letter Before Action
Whether court proceedings need issuing
Court processing times

This estimate assumes that the debtor pays promptly following Judgment in Default. If the claim is defended or enforcement action is required, the matter is likely to take longer.

Who will carry out the work

The Dispute Resolution team is headed up by Jonathan Copper, a Partner and Solicitor with over 20 years of experience in debt recovery work.

Work may also be carried out by other solicitors and supervised fee earners with the Dispute Resolution team, depending on the value and complexity of the matter. All work is supervised by a Partner.