What is a pay less notice, and what happens if the client didn't send one?
The short answer
In full. A pay less notice is the formal notice a client gives to pay less than the sum notified, giving the new sum and the working; by default it is due 7 days before the final date for payment8. In a construction contract, a client who gave no valid one in time must pay the whole notified sum by the final date3, whatever they think the work was worth. If they sent no payment notice either, your own notice fixes the sum2.
England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.
What you can add
A £15,500 payment, 71 days past its final date
Say your drylining firm is owed £15,500 for work to date on a shop fit-out for another business. The contract makes the payment due on Friday 3 July 2026 and sets no other dates and no late-payment interest, so the defaults apply: the client's payment notice by Wednesday 8 July, the final date for payment on Monday 20 July, any pay less notice by Monday 13 July. The contract has no application step, and the client sends no payment notice. On Thursday 9 July you send your own, with the working, one day after the client's deadline. The final date moves to Tuesday 21 July. A pay less notice cannot come before yours3, so the client's window runs from 9 July to Tuesday 14 July. None arrives. Nothing is paid. Interest is 8% over Bank Rate9: 11.75% a year10 for interest that starts between 1 July and 31 December 2026. It starts on Wednesday 22 July, the day after the final date.
Then it grows by £4.99 a day until they pay. Whatever they think the work was worth, the final date for payment was 21 July, and the £15,500 had to be paid in full by then. That argument can come afterwards.
The road ahead
Five steps. Free until adjudication.
Step 1: Check it is construction work
Step 2: Count the three dates
Start from the contract's payment due date. The client's payment notice is due no later than 5 days after it1. Unless your contract sets its own, the Scheme for Construction Contracts8 fixes the final date at 17 days after the due date, and the pay less deadline at 7 days before the final date.
Weekends count. In the 5 and 17 days, which run from a date, Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays are left out7. That rule does not cover counting the 7 days back from the final date.
Step 3: See what the client has sent
Look for the client's payment notice (what they say is due) and any pay less notice. A pay less notice must give the sum they say is due, which can be nothing, and how they worked it out3, in time. One that is late, or leaves out the sum or the working, usually does not count.
A payment notice for less than you asked still sets the notified sum3 at that lower figure. If they sent one and no pay less notice, that figure is due by the final date: email to say so, quoting their notice. If a notice looks half valid, ask a construction solicitor to read it.
Step 4: No payment notice? Put yours on record, then ask
If the contract has you apply first and you did, as it asks, with the sum and the working, your application already counts as your notice2 and you cannot send another. If not, send your own now: the final date is postponed a day for each day it comes after the client's deadline2.
Then email the letter below, the day after the client's deadline if you can: each day you wait puts the final date a day later.
Step 5: If it is unpaid after the final date
Unless your contract sets its own late-payment interest, interest runs from the next day, with the fixed sum (see the sum). You can give at least 7 days' notice4 that you will stop work, or take the dispute to adjudication.
Collecting a notified sum that no valid notice reduced is what site talk calls smash and grab. It does not settle what the work was worth: the courts usually let the client ask an adjudicator to decide that afterwards.
A Bill before Parliament, the Commercial Payments Bill, would also give suppliers a fixed sum where a buyer raises a dispute late or without enough information12. It is not law.
A letter you can copy
Notice of the sum due, and request to pay by the final date
Send it once the client's payment notice date has passed with nothing from them. If your application already counts as your notice, it works as the reminder.
Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.
Send it by email so it is dated, to the address your contract names for notices if it names one. Keep a copy with the application and the contract. If your application is your notice, write instead: My application of 1 July 2026 is my notice under section 110B of that Act. Then the final date is not postponed: use the date without any extra days. If this email is your first notice, add one day to the final date for each day it comes after the payer's notice date. If your contract sets its own late-payment interest, name that clause instead of the 1998 Act.
When not to bother
When it isn't worth it
- It isn't construction work, or the client lives there. A supply-only order is outside these rules: send a letter before action, then claim. Work on a homeowner's own home is a consumer debt, which these pages do not cover.
- They sent a valid pay less notice, in time. Then only the sum it names is due3. The rest is a dispute over their reasons: get the undisputed part paid first.
- The sum is small and the client is worth keeping. Ring first and ask for the date. The dates keep running while you talk, so write the final date down before you dial.
- The client is in liquidation or administration. The road changes: you prove your debt in the insolvency. See liquidation and administration.
- The site is in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The default dates here come from the England and Wales Scheme. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own, so check your contract's dates and ask a construction solicitor.
The Wolf's note
To pay less, the law asks the client for two things by one date: a sum, and the working behind it. Miss the date and the notified sum stands. Put the pay less date and the final date in your diary, and let the calendar do the arguing.
Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX
What comes next
Your next move
Put it in writing
How do I give notice that I'm pausing work for non-payment?
Seven days' notice that states the ground, on a construction job where a notified sum is unpaid.
6 min read · Letter included
What is adjudication, and can I use it to get paid for construction work?
Yes, for construction work.
7 min read · Letter included
If they push back
My client disputes my invoice. What happens next?
The disputed part waits.
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.