A market trader's van at 6am, back doors open, a cash box on a crate.

wolfx. Answers Search answers about getting paid Get started

How much does it cost to take a company to court for an unpaid invoice?

The short answer

From £35 to £4551. That is the fee to start a claim up to £10,000, set by its size, and a hearing adds £27 to £346 if there is one1. If you win, the court can order the company to repay your court fees2 on top of the debt, and usually does4.

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 the court charges.

£35–£455To start a claim of up to £10,000, by its size. From £10,000.01 it is 5% of the claim.1

£27–£346Hearing fee on a small claim, by its size. Charged only if the court fixes a hearing.1

£96To send county court bailiffs, if you win and the company still does not pay.1

£10,000The top of a small claim. To £25,000 the fast track follows, with a £619 hearing fee.5 1

What you can add

A £3,600 invoice, taken the whole way

Say a company owes you £3,600 from an invoice that fell due on 31 August 2026. Your letter before action gave it until 13 November and nothing came. On 14 November you email to say the claim starts the next day, and on 15 November you claim £3,758.08: the invoice, £88.08 of interest at 11.75% for 76 days and the £70 fixed sum. The company defends it, you win at a small claims hearing, and it still does not pay, so you send in bailiffs.

£205.00Fee to start the claim (claims of £3,000.01 to £5,000)1

£346.00Hearing fee (small claims over £3,000)1

£96.00Warrant of control, to send county court bailiffs1

£647.00Court fees, start to finish

You pay each fee as you go. They come back only if you win and the company pays: the judgment is then usually for at least £4,309.08, the claim plus the first two fees, with the interest built up before judgment on top, and the £96 is part of the sum the bailiffs collect. Lose, or find the company has nothing, and the fees are gone. The bands jump. A claim of £5,000.00 pays £205 to start and one of £5,000.01 pays £4551. Interest is part of the claim, so add it up again on the day you start.

The road ahead

Five steps. Up to three fees.

Step 1: Add up the whole claim first
The fee is set by the amount you claim plus interest1, up to the day you start. Add up the invoice, the interest and the fixed sum first; the interest working page shows how.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes
Step 2: Pay the fee to start the claim
Online, you pay by card. Money Claim Online's guide says the fee is added to the amount you claim, and is not refunded if the company pays straight after you start7. You may still be able to claim it from the company, though it can dispute it.
Help with fees8 is written for individuals, so if you trade as a limited company you usually cannot get it.
Cost: £205 on this claimTime: 20 minutes
Step 3: If they say nothing, ask for judgment
The company has a deadline to reply, which the court road page sets out. If it passes in silence, you ask for judgment online7 and add the interest built up since you started.
A claim nobody defends has no hearing, so no hearing fee falls due1.
Cost: No hearing feeTime: After the reply deadline
Step 4: If they defend, pay the hearing fee on time
The court's order gives a date. The fee is £346 on a claim over £3,0001, and £27 to £181 below that. Miss the date and the claim is struck out1.
Settle before the fee falls due and you do not pay it; once paid, it is not refunded1. The court road page covers the mediation that may come first.
If you win, the court can order the company to pay2 only a short list: your court fees, getting you and your witnesses to the hearing, up to £95 a day of lost earnings for each of you and up to £750 for each expert3, and more if it behaved unreasonably.
Cost: £346 on this claimTime: By the date in the order
Step 5: Still unpaid? Ask for bailiffs
A warrant of control sends county court bailiffs to the company. The fee is £961, and the warrant's total includes it7.
Their own fees, from £799, are charged to the company10 and can come out of what the goods raise.
Under £600 only the county court can send bailiffs; at £5,000 or more only the High Court can11, and there a writ of control costs £821.
Cost: £96 for a warrantTime: 10 minutes to apply

A letter you can copy

Last email, naming the day your claim starts

Send it the day after the date in your letter before action passes with no payment and no reply. It names the day the claim starts and sets no new date to pay.

New email

SubjectInvoice : court claim starts on

Dear , Invoice , for , was due on . My letter before action of asked for payment by . That date has passed with no payment and no reply. On I will start a claim in the County Court for : the invoice, interest of under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the fixed sum of . Interest then grows by a day. The court fee for a claim of this size is , and a hearing fee of is due if the case goes to a hearing. I will ask the court to order you to pay both, with the interest built up by then. If you believe any of this is wrong, please tell me before and say why. If you have already paid, let me know the date and the amount. I am still willing to talk. Kind regards,

Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.

Email it to whoever approves payments and keep the sent copy. For a sole trader, send it only once the 30 days12 from the date on your letter have passed.

When not to bother

When it isn't worth it

The debt is a few hundred pounds. A claim of £300.01 to £500 costs £50 to start and £59 for a hearing1, at least a fifth of the debt, back only if the company pays. Ring first.
The company has nothing to collect. A judgment does not put money in the bank, so check what the company owns, and whether it still trades, before you pay to start.
They dispute it and your paperwork is thin. Lose and your fees are gone. The court can order only a short list2 from you: its reasonable travel, capped lost earnings and expert fees, and extra for unreasonable behaviour.
A solicitor would run it. On a claim of £1,000.01 to £5,000 the court can add only a fixed £80 for starting it6 towards their bill, so the rest is usually yours, win or lose.
The company's address is in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Money Claim Online takes defendants with an address in England or Wales7; those countries have their own courts and fees.

The Wolf's note

The court charges the same fee for a company with money and one without. Look at what this one owns before you pay it. If there is something to collect and you win, the fee usually lands on the company.

Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX

What comes next