Late Payment Compensation

[oxtailsoup]

Ok, still not been paid for January. Had the same problem for the last few months. Supposed to be paid by agent within 20 business days of invoice but the agent can't seem to manage this even though its in their contract.

After chasing them up they usually pay within the week. But firstly I shouldn't have to chase them and secondly they sau it won't happen again.

Anyway this time I rang the PCG legal advice line to see if I can do anything. They have informed me that as the debt is greater than £10k I can charge the agent £100 compensation and I can also claim interest which works out about £40 so far. They pointed me in the direction of a web site called www.payontime.co.uk

Has anyone else gone down this route of claiming interest? You don't have to take the debtor to court as its your statutory right to claim the late payment fees.

This was my post from last month....
http://forums.contractoruk.com/thread14169.html

[Mustang]

Yes I have been there! Do a search for "interest" and PM me if you still have any questions.

[ratewhore]

I've used it successfully against alexmann. To be fair, if they are paying you a week over 20 days it's not really that much of an issue. The legislation uses 30 days as a ballpark when there is nothing defined in a contract anyway.

What makes you think you won't have to go to court? If the agency refuse to pay the fine and interest, what are you going to do then?

Might be worth discussing the whole thing with the agent, but make sure you talk to the organ grinder and not the monkey. You may be able to come up with a solution which will keep the relationship intact.

[Troll]

... and don't submit anymore timesheets/invoices until it is resolved

[ratewhore]

... and don't submit anymore timesheets/invoices until it is resolved

Not quite sure of the logic behind that Troll. Isn't it better to get paid a week late than not at all?

[DaveB]

If you dont submit timesheets the Agency dont get paid either. That will usually get their attention.

[Troll]

If you dont submit timesheets the Agency dont get paid either. That will usually get their attention.

Also you're assuming that the late payment is an admin oversight, how do you know the reason isn't a cashflow problem at the agency or a symptom of a company about to fold.

Limit your exposure -see the Futuro thread for worst case scenarios

[ratewhore]

I think in this case the OP is getting paid a week after chasing it up rather than not getting paid. It would make more sense then to have a dialog with the agency...