Late Payment Prevention
PreventionOptional monthly check
Make overdue payments easier to spot and chase, with clear dates, letters and responsibilities for your team.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
Payments repeatedly arrive late, but nobody chases promptly or checks whether interest is due. You may also be unsure when unpaid money would allow you to stop work.
Money already overdue? See Late Payment Claim. Being paid short? See Underpayment Prevention.
The solution
We review payment terms, flag existing arrears and set up a routine for chasing overdue sums, interest and escalation. Before signing, we identify terms to negotiate.
We test it on a live payment. Stopping work requires the correct grounds and procedure; legal decisions go to your solicitor.
What you get
You receive a summary of the payment terms and a diary of final payment dates, together with chase letters, interest calculations and an escalation procedure. We test the routine with your team and record who owns each task and who provides cover.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed set-up fee agreed after we see the contracts, before work starts. Includes support through one live payment. Optional monthly checks have a fixed fee agreed first. Pause between jobs or stop at month-end.
Turnaround: ten working days for the set-up, then one live payment alongside your team.
How it works
You tell us how you are paid now
Start with a free call and send your records. We confirm the scope, fixed fee and timetable before you decide.
What you get: A written scope, fixed fee and timetable
- A
Each subcontract as signed, or the version you are about to sign
The executed subcontract or order for every live job, with its schedule of amendments; for a job not yet signed, the latest version exchanged.
Where to find it: The order email or the job's commercial folder normally holds the signed copy; an unsigned version is usually in the tender or negotiation emails.
Why we need it: The payment terms in the signed wording and its amendments decide when you are paid, and what can hold payment back.
How we will use it: We read the due date, the final date for payment, any upstream condition, the interest clause and the suspension rights from it, clause by clause.
- B
Any document your payment is said to depend on
Where the subcontract refers to the main contract, an upstream certificate or the employer's payment, whatever you hold of those terms.
Where to find it: The subcontract's own schedules, the tender enquiry, or correspondence where the main contractor has explained its payment cycle.
Why we need it: A condition tied to something further up the chain can only be mapped if we can see what it ties your payment to.
How we will use it: We map the upstream trigger beside your own dates and mark any legal question about its effect for your solicitor.
- C
Your payment record for recent cycles
For each live job: the applications or invoices, the notices received, and the date each payment actually arrived.
Where to find it: The sent items of whoever issues your applications, and your accounts package or bank statements.
Why we need it: The record shows how late you are actually paid against the terms, which decides where the routine has to bite first.
How we will use it: We set each job's final dates against the receipts and start the diary and the chase from where each job actually stands.
- D
Your current chasers and who sends them
The letters or emails you send when a payment is late, as they are, and a line on who sends them and when.
Where to find it: The sent items of whoever chases payment, usually the commercial manager or the accounts team.
Why we need it: A chase that asks politely and names no date teaches your main contractor that paying late costs nothing.
How we will use it: We rebuild the letters so each one states the sum, the final date that passed and the interest running, and assign who sends each one and when.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
We read your payment terms
We set out in plain words when each subcontract says you are paid and what can hold it back. Then we check how late you are really paid.
What you get: A one-page summary of each subcontract's payment terms, in plain words
We set up your chase routine
A diary of the last day each payment can be made on time. A chaser for the day after, with the interest worked out. A procedure for stopping work. A named person for each step.
What you get: Your payment diary, chaser letters and interest worksheet, set up for your jobs
We train your team and test it on a real payment
We walk your team through the routine. They run it on the next payment due, with us alongside, and we fix anything that did not work.
What you get: The routine, tested on a real payment and corrected where needed
You choose whether we keep checking
Your team runs the routine without us. For a second pair of eyes, our optional monthly check reviews your payment dates and flags any payment not chased on time.
We hand over a chase your team runs on the day
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
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Already dealing with it? Late Payment Claim.