AnswersCourt, and what comes after
What can I claim in court besides the invoice: interest, fees, costs?
The short answer
Interest and fees, yes. If a business paid late, you can claim interest at 8% a year over base rate1, a fixed £40, £70 or £100 per invoice5 and the court fee, but a solicitor's bill mostly stays with you12. The fee is set on the claim plus interest10, so small extras can lift it a band.
England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.
The numbers
What goes on the claim.
What you can add
A £4,860 invoice, 70 days late
Say you invoiced another business £4,860 for IT support, due on 24 July 2026. You submit a claim online on 2 October 2026: 70 days late. The invoice went late in the second half of 2026, so the rate is 11.75%.
- The invoice£4,860.00
- Interest: £4,860 × 11.75% ÷ 365 × 70 days1£109.52
- Fixed sum (invoices from £1,000 to £9,999.99)2£70.00
- Court fee (claim of £5,039.52, over £5,000)10£455.00
- Total on the form, 2 October 2026£5,494.52
Then interest runs on at £1.56 a day until judgment or payment. Leave out the £70 and the claim is £4,969.52, under £5,000, so the fee is £205. That is £250 less to front. The £70 itself comes only if the company pays.
The road ahead
Five steps. One court fee.
Step 1: List what you can claim
The invoice, interest, the fixed sum2 once per invoice, and the court fee, which the online form adds for you. If your reasonable costs of chasing came to more than the fixed sum, the Act lets you claim the difference5.
A solicitor issuing the claim can add £50 to £10011 in fixed costs, but only for a solicitor's charges12, so you get none if you issue it yourself.
For the rest of a legal bill, see recovering legal costs.
Step 2: Pick one kind of interest
Between businesses, use the Late Payment Act: 8% over the Bank Rate3 on the 30 June or 31 December just before the invoice went late. For one that went late from 1 July 2026, that is 11.75%4.
For any other debt, the court can add interest under the County Courts Act 1984, and Money Claim Online sets it at 8% a year7.
A claim can ask for one kind only6. Work it on the invoice alone; the fixed sum sits on top of the interest on the debt5.
Step 3: Work out the claim and read the fee off it
Add the invoice, the interest to the day you submit the claim and the fixed sum. The fee is based on the amount you claim, plus interest10, and the bands jump: £205 from £3,000.01 to £5,000, £455 from £5,000.01 to £10,000. Work the claim out with and without each extra.
Interest counts towards the fee but not the £10,000 small claims limit: the court disregards any claim for interest9 there. On Money Claim Online, press calculate and the fee is added; a draft is kept for 28 days7.
Step 4: Word the interest the way the rules ask
Rule 16.4(2)8 wants six things: what the interest is claimed under, the rate, the date from, the date to, the total to that date, and the daily rate after.
The date to cannot be later than the issue date, so use the day you submit. GOV.UK now points fixed-sum claims to a newer money claims service7 with its own screens: claim the interest there, at the Late Payment Act rate.
On Money Claim Online, answer No to the County Courts Act interest question, then paste the wording below into the particulars box. Interest left off can be added later only with a district judge's permission and a fee7.
Step 5: Submit it, and let the daily rate run
Submit the claim and pay the court fee10: £35 to £455 for a claim up to £10,000. Interest then keeps running at your daily rate to judgment or payment6.
When you ask for judgment you can add the interest since issue6. On Money Claim Online the company has 14 days from service, the fifth day after issue7, to respond, or 28 if it files an acknowledgment of service.
A letter you can copy
Wording for the particulars of claim
On Money Claim Online, paste it into the particulars box when you submit, in place of the County Courts Act interest option.
Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.
Everything in the box has to fit in 1,080 characters. With the example figures this comes to about 650, so there is room for a line or two of your own. Money Claim Online's box takes only full stops, commas and pound signs as punctuation. That is why the wording says per cent and has no brackets or hyphens. Keep a copy of what you pasted, with the date you issued the claim.
When not to bother
When it isn't worth it
- The extras are small and the fee jump is bigger. Work the claim out with and without each one before you submit. You usually get the fee back on a win, but there is no guarantee of it6, and you front it.
- Part of the invoice is disputed. Interest and the fee both grow with what you claim, so ask them to pay the part they accept first, and read what happens when a client disputes an invoice.
- Your customer is a consumer. The Late Payment Act does not cover contracts with consumers6, and this page does not cover consumer debts.
- Your contract has its own late-payment term. Statutory interest is out when a contract sets another rate1, so the claim reads differently and this page does not fit.
- It is Scotland or Northern Ireland. This page is for England and Wales; the courts and forms differ.
The Wolf's note
The interest and the £70 are small; the fee band they can tip you into is not. Work the claim out both ways before you press submit. Leave the interest off and it takes a district judge, and a fee, to add it later.
Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX
What comes next
Your next move
What is Money Claim Online, and how does it work?
Money Claim Online is the court's web form for a fixed sum under £100,000, paid by card.
8 min read · Letter included
What you can add
Do I add VAT to late payment interest and compensation?
No. HMRC says no tax is due on interest because of late payment.
4 min read · Letter included
How much does it cost to take a company to court for an unpaid invoice?
From £35 to £455 to start a claim up to £10,000, plus £27 to £346 if it reaches a hearing.
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.