Unpaid invoice

[MyUserName]

Hello all,

Do you remember that my agency asked whether I would mind if my company was paid monthly rather than weekly?

Well today I noticed that there is an invoice which I supplied 11 working days ago which is still unpaid (at least it looks that way, I might be mistaken).

I am a PCG plue member. Luckily I have been a member 62 days which just puts me over the 60 day waiting period.


I have contacted the agency to ask what is happening and they say that they are waiting for their finance company to come back to them with clarification.

I have searched and read various horror stories but before I jump off a bridge could people clarify how often this happens?

Is it common for an agency to slip a day or two or does this only happen when there is a serious issue?

If the agency do vanish, would it normally be possible to continue working for the client?

(Yes, I know I am an amatuer and I should have been born knowing all of this before starting out as a contractor etc.)

[The Agents View]

Hello all,

Do you remember that my agency asked whether I would mind if my company was paid monthly rather than weekly?

Well today I noticed that there is an invoice which I supplied 11 working days ago which is still unpaid (at least it looks that way, I might be mistaken).

I am a PCG plue member. Luckily I have been a member 62 days which just puts me over the 60 day waiting period.


I have contacted the agency to ask what is happening and they say that they are waiting for their finance company to come back to them with clarification.

I have searched and read various horror stories but before I jump off a bridge could people clarify how often this happens?

Is it common for an agency to slip a day or two or does this only happen when there is a serious issue?

If the agency do vanish, would it normally be possible to continue working for the client?

(Yes, I know I am an amatuer and I should have been born knowing all of this before starting out as a contractor etc.)

Depends on the agency. I'm a small agency owner, and sometimes my invoices slip a few days when the factoring company are sluggish, or the accounts lady doesn't do something she should have, etc....but it could be a sign that things aren't perfect for the agency.

It's worth calling them and lending a sympathetic ear perhaps.... Just to say "look I'm not making demands for payment, I'd just like an idea of when the money will be available".

Bigger agencies tend to have more cash flow so can support the contracts regular payment until they get paid from their own funds - if a bigger agency is being slow to pay, it could signal problems.

Ultimately, though, this is business. I currently have 3 client invoices which have gone to 67 days, on 30 day terms - Yes, it's annoying, yes it's costing me money (they're all £30,000+ invoices) but this is why we have credit control - to keep it at least half workable.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

It sounds as though they are factoring their invoices which means that their invoices are 'sold' to a finance company for, say, 95% of their value. This is done to improve cash flow and to enable the company to fulfil their contractual obligations - they have an agreement with you to pay within 30 days but the end client doesn't pay them for 60 days for instance. This is quite common if agencies are dealing with really large organisations - they are generally not great at paying but obviously the agents want to keep their business so will give up part of their income to ensure the money keeps coming in.

If you are really concerned about this then check the company out through Companies House - it will cost a few quid but will be worth it for peace of mind.

[psychocandy]

Hang on OP - did you submit 11 days ago or are they 11 days over the payment terms agreed in the contract? Big difference.

[MyUserName]

Hang on OP - did you submit 11 days ago or are they 11 days over the payment terms agreed in the contract? Big difference.

Sorry, I should have been more specific:

I submitted 11 working days ago. The contract states that payment will be made in 10 working days, putting them 1 wd late.

[The Agents View]

Sorry, I should have been more specific:

I submitted 11 working days ago. The contract states that payment will be made in 10 working days, putting them 1 wd late.

Jeepers - I hope nothing really bad happens to your business - you won't know where to start!

1 working day? It takes 3 working days for the payment to clear!

[BrilloPad]

When I was a contractor it was my policy to only ever have one invoice outstanding just in case the agency went under.

In your shoes I would be pointing out that waiting for the financing company was not in the contract and they need to pay you or you will walk.

I appreciate that advice is not for everyone. But then most of us wait for the advice we want to hear.

[MyUserName]

Jeepers - I hope nothing really bad happens to your business - you won't know where to start!

Probably not, this is all still fairly new to me. Still, I am sure it was fairly new to most people when they first started.

1 working day? It takes 3 working days for the payment to clear!

Is this a standard? I considered it to be the case that the money would be in my bank account within 10 days - did I misunderstand (I hope so!!!)?

[The Agents View]

Probably not, this is all still fairly new to me. Still, I am sure it was fairly new to most people when they first started.



Is this a standard? I considered it to be the case that the money would be in my bank account within 10 days - did I misunderstand (I hope so!!!)?

At the moment, it varies - The Faster Payments system means that sometimes things clear immediately - I think the threshold is about £25,000 - which sometimes causes me issues - so I just split the payments to people - but I can only do that because I'm a small business - if I was a massive agent, it just takes as long as it takes!

Paid within X days, means the payment has been put through - if it then takes your bank 4 days to find the money, that's your problem, not the agencies...... I would be checking that it HAS been paid though.

[MyUserName]

Paid within X days, means the payment has been put through - if it then takes your bank 4 days to find the money, that's your problem, not the agencies...... I would be checking that it HAS been paid though.

They have said that the invoice went to the finance company already but that is all I have heard so far. Normally the payments is pretty prompt and well under 10 days.

I am hoping that this is just a misunderstanding as they have been pretty good so far, nice bunch of guys, know what they are talking about, quick to respond etc.