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Can I claim from a director personally for a company's unpaid invoice?

The short answer

Usually not. A limited company is legally separate from its owners1, so a supplier's bill is the company's debt2, not the director's. The exception to check first is a personal guarantee3: the director's promise to pay if the company does not. A spoken promise is not enough: a promise to pay someone else's debt must be in writing and signed by the person giving it4.

Mara, WolfX research desk
Written with AI, checked by a person · 8 October 2026

England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.

The numbers

What to write on the file.

6 yearsTo start a claim on an ordinary contract, counted from when the right to claim began.9

30 daysFor a director to reply to your Letter of Claim before a court claim.8

£455Court fee for a claim worth £5,000.01 to £10,000.10

£69Court fee to add a defendant later, plus £126 or £321 to apply once the claim is served.10

What you can add

An £8,640 bill and a signed promise

Say a restaurant company, formed in March 2026, owes you £8,640 on one invoice for three months of linen hire and laundry, due on 31 July 2026. Its director signed a personal guarantee in your credit application, with no cap. On 30 September the invoice is still unpaid: 61 days late. Interest uses the rate for invoices that went late between 1 July and 31 December 2026.

£8,640.00The invoice

£169.66Interest: £8,640 × 11.75% ÷ 365 × 61 days11

£70.00Fixed sum (invoices from £1,000 to £9,999.99)12

£8,879.66Owed on 30 September 2026

It grows by £2.78 a day until they pay. A claim for this sum sits in the £5,000.01 to £10,000 band: a £455 court fee10, with both names on the first claim form. With a personal guarantee, the director is a second person to claim from. Without one, the company is usually the only defendant.

The road ahead

Six steps. One court fee.

Step 1: Check whose name is on the deal
A debt taken on in the company's name is the company's; one taken out in a person's own name is theirs2. Check whose name is on your order, quote and invoice.
Then compare your order date with the date the company was formed, on its Companies House record. If it did not exist yet, section 51 of the Companies Act 20065 makes the person who acted for it personally liable, unless the contract says otherwise.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes
Step 2: Look for a personal guarantee
Search the credit application and account terms for a personal guarantee3: the director's signed promise to pay if the company does not. Suppliers ask for one more often when a company is new. A director who gave one is responsible for that debt2.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes
Step 3: Check it is in writing and signed
A spoken promise fails. Section 4 of the Statute of Frauds 16774 says a promise to pay someone else's debt cannot be sued on unless it, or a note of it, is in writing and signed by the person giving it or someone they authorised.
For an email, a text, unclear wording, or a claim that rests on what a director said or did, ask a solicitor who does commercial litigation. Nothing signed, and nothing in step 1? Stop: the debt is the company's.
Cost: FreeTime: 5 minutes
Step 4: Read its limits and check the date
Read what the promise covers: which debt, any cap, any end date.
Under the Limitation Act 1980 a claim on an ordinary contract must start within six years9 of the day the right to claim 'accrued'. The Act does not say which day that is for a promise to pay someone else's debt. If the date is near, or the promise was made as a deed, ask a solicitor which limit applies.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes
Step 5: Send the director a Letter of Claim by post
Date the letter below at the top and post it that day or the next. Enclose the signed document, your invoice, a statement of account, and the Information Sheet, Reply Form and Financial Statement form from the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims8.
When a business claims a debt from an individual, the court expects that protocol to be followed, with 30 days for the director to reply8. Send the company its own letter the same day.
Cost: A stampTime: 30 days
Step 6: Name both in one claim
If 30 days pass with no payment or reply, start one claim against the company and the director. Rule 7.3 of the Civil Procedure Rules lets one claim form start every claim that can be conveniently decided together7.
The court fee is set by the size of the claim. Adding a defendant later costs £69 more, plus £126 or £321 to apply once the claim is served10. How to start it has its own page. Scotland and Northern Ireland use a different process.
Cost: £455 court fee in the exampleTime: Under an hour

A letter you can copy

Letter of Claim to a director who signed a personal guarantee

Send it only if you hold a personal guarantee, signed by the director, that covers this debt. Without one, write to the company instead.

New email

SubjectLetter of Claim: unpaid invoice owed by

Dear , Letter of Claim: unpaid invoice owed by I am writing to you under the personal guarantee in , which you signed. In it you promised to pay what owes me if the company does not. A copy is enclosed. Invoice , for , was due on . It has not been paid, so I am asking you to pay it under your personal guarantee. Interest and the fixed sum are added under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. The amount due today is: Invoice: Interest at a year from the day after the due date: Fixed sum for late payment: Total due: Interest is still running and will continue until the debt is paid. Please pay by , which is 30 days from the date of this letter, to: I enclose a copy of the signed document, the invoice, a statement of account, the Information Sheet and Reply Form, and a Financial Statement form. Please use the Reply Form to answer, and send it to the address below. You can ask me for a copy of my agreement with the company. If you would like to talk about how to pay, please contact me. If you believe any of this is wrong, please tell me before that date and say why. If I have no reply by , I will start a claim in the County Court against and against you, and ask for the court fee and further interest as well. Yours sincerely,

Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.

Post it on the day it is dated or the next, to the address the director gave on the signed document. Put your own address at the top and keep proof of posting. Claim only what the signed document covers. If it covers the invoice but not interest or the fixed sum, take those lines and the sentence about the 1998 Act out, and change the total. The protocol's Information Sheet, Reply Form and Financial Statement form are Annexes 1 and 2 of the protocol. Copy them from its PDF.

When not to bother

When it isn't worth it

Nothing is signed and the company made the deal. The debt is the company's1, and so is any judgment, so chase the company. If it was struck off, see what that changes.
The company is in liquidation and nothing is signed. Wrongful and fraudulent trading claims6 are the liquidator's, not yours. Claim in the liquidation instead.
The director has little to pay with. A signed promise is worth only what the person can pay, so the claim has the same problem as a claim on a company with no money. Weigh that first, before you post the letter.
The director has started a new company. The rules on re-using a name6 can make a person responsible for the new company's debts, not the old one's. Your bill stays with the old company.

The Wolf's note

A debt follows the name on the paper. Find the page with the director's signature before you write to anyone: with a personal guarantee, one claim carries two names; without one, the company is the whole claim.

Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX

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