First invoice payment

[lje]

Well I think a little reminder doesn't do any harm. I work direct with my client and for the fist 6 months or so they would pay within 2 weeks, even though we have 30 days agreed. Over the last year though they have often been late. Not a problem with their liquidity - just their organisation as they now have lots more contractors. Once they paid one of my invoices twice - which sounds nice but took quite a bit of effort to sort out.

Now I chase my invoice one week before it is due to remind them when it is due and I rarely have an issue.

[VectraMan]

Turns out they were missing some contract paperwork from the client and there internal rules said I couldn't be paid until they had it.

I've been there several times. One agent didn't pay three invoices because they hadn't received the contract back from the client, and then made a big deal out of doing me a favour in authorising the payment.

One small factor that makes me think the people who came up with IR35 may have had a point is contractors' exposure to risk of non payment. I.e. there is none, at least not really, and not significantly different to that of an employee. Whereas a real business deals with late payers and cash flow problems all the time. It's part of what running a business is.

[xoggoth]

Think I'd let a day or two pass on the odd occasion but be very wary if any agency or company makes a habit of late payments, it can be a sign of financial problems. Happened to me where I had to chase a client for payment on a couple of occasions and a few months later I lost over £1000 when they went bust.

[craig1]

Well, I am going to get paid but it's a good job that I did chase early as they hadn't set up the contract on their systems yet and I wouldn't have been paid. I'll be paid one day late but at least I know that it is going through the BACS system.

I see absolutely no problem asking for clarification that I am going to get paid for the first invoice in a new contract with a new agency. Based on years of experience with agencies, it would be startlingly naive for me to assume that an agency is going to get everything right first time and I will be paid on time. I'm not questioning their ethics or intention to pay, just acknowledging that sometimes things go wrong and getting them dealt with early.