26th September 2013, 02:22 PM
ecmgardner Wrote:I have used the small claims court on a couple of occasions (neither time was to do with my archaeology work) and both times it was neither time consuming or expensive as it's designed to negate the need for paying a solicitor. You can file your claims online and the fee is both nominal and can be added to the costs for the defendant. I won my case both times, the first time I had to attend the court and the second time they settled before going to court. It's much more effective when a notice of intended court proceedings falls on the mat. Cheaper than a solicitors letter and more effective. When you win the court also has powers to do helpful things like freeze all their assets until they pay (if necessary).
Unless stated on your invoices you can only add statutory interest, but you are entitled to also raise penalty invoices too. You would need to check but I believe you can still chase unpaid invoices and issue penalties backdated for 6 years.
This is a great resource of information:
http://payontime.co.uk/late-payment-legi...alculators
How much are the small claims court fees? A solicitor's letter cost less than £50 and negates the need to go anywhere - so far it is has always been effective (to be honest I've got better things to do than go to a small claims court, and I'm guessing there's no way of forcing the other party to even turn up, which would make it doubly irritating). Either way is good though I'm sure.
There's always a danger with not chasing invoices that it makes it look like a hobby and that we expect to work for free, which then affects everyone, and no-one is making a fortune let's face it.