AnswersWhen a client won't pay
Should I copy in the director when chasing an unpaid invoice?
The short answer
Sometimes. Copy the director on your second reminder, if the first brought no payment date, and do it openly, with the facts only. A director usually does not owe your invoice: a limited company is legally separate from the people who own it, and a director runs it7, so a copy works because a director can tell the team to pay, not because they are exposed. The names are free, because Companies House lists a company's officers8.
What you can add
A £6,800 invoice, 14 days late
Say you invoiced another business £6,800 for haulage, due on 3 July 2026. You chased on 10 July and have no payment date. It went late on 4 July, so the 11.75% rate for the second half of 2026 applies. On 17 July it is 14 days late.
Then it grows by £2.19 a day until they pay. The email copies the director and asks for the full amount by 31 July.
The road ahead
Six steps. Free, bar a stamp.
Step 1: Check the day 7 chase brought no date
Copy the director on the day 14 reminder if your day 7 chase brought no date, or the contact says they can't release the money. The law fixes none of those days; they are a common rhythm. An invoice can be stuck between departments12, so a contact who is replying with dates gets more time.
Step 2: Find the person who can release the money
Ask the contact who signs off payments. Then check the company's current officers on the free Companies House register9. At a larger firm the right name may be the finance director or the budget holder, even if they are not on the officers list.
Step 4: Send it with the director in Cc
Use the email below, and attach a new invoice for the interest and fixed sum1. Put the director in Cc, in the open, not Bcc, and send to work addresses only. No personal email, no home phone, no message on social media.
Step 5: Give them 14 days to pay
Ask for the full amount within 14 days, the time the court's pre-action rules give a company6 to answer a formal letter in a straightforward case. Payment by then ends this. A promise to pay later does not move the letter before action off day 30. A reason, such as a dispute, means settle that first.
Step 6: Still unpaid at day 30? Send the letter before action
The copied email is not that letter. Post it to the company's registered office11, which the law accepts for a company, and email a copy.
A letter you can copy
Email to the contact, copying the director
Send it 14 days after the due date, when your day 7 chase brought no payment date and the person who can release the money is not your contact.
Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.
Put the director in Cc, not Bcc, and send from your work address to theirs, so the email is dated and everyone can see who has it. If you can, tell your contact in one line first that you will copy the director, so the copy does not land as a surprise.
When not to bother
When it isn't worth it
- Your contact is replying and giving dates. Copying a director over someone who is helping reads as a report on them. Keep chasing the contact, and do not copy anyone on a first chase.
- You depend on the contact's goodwill. Ask them first how they would like it handled, or let the contact choose who to bring in.
- The client is a sole trader or a partnership. There is no director. The owner is usually the person you are already writing to.
- The invoice is disputed. Settle the dispute, or the undisputed part, first. A copy to the director while the price is argued reads as pressure.
- The company looks to be failing. Check it before you escalate. A claim against a director for wrongful trading is for a liquidator to bring10, not you.
The Wolf's note
A copy does not make the director owe you anything. It puts the sum in front of the person who can release it. Send both of them the same facts and one date to pay by.
Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX
What comes next
Your next move
My client hasn't paid my invoice. What do I do first?
Check the invoice, then ask once, in writing, for a date.
6 min read · Letter included
My client has gone quiet. How do I get an answer?
Ask someone else: ring accounts payable, email a second name, then post to the registered office, which the law counts as delivery to the company.
6 min read · Letter included
My client keeps promising to pay but never does. What now?
Stop collecting promises.
6 min read · Letter included
Don't want to do this yourself?
The Wolf does every step for you. He works out the sums, writes the letters and keeps track of every date. Nothing goes without your yes.