Having just come through what seems like the longest quarter of the year, you might have experienced a drain on cash flow for your business. Being on top of your cash flow, whatever type of business you are, is imperative and will require constant management.

In order to maximise your cash flow, you may want to consider putting procedures in place to ask for payment in advance (or at least staged payments) to avoid having to keep chasing outstanding invoices. It is also important to ensure that your terms and conditions are watertight so that you are adequately protected in the event that an invoice goes unpaid, or if payment is delayed.

If an invoice does go unpaid, it can be very useful to implement a structured credit control/debt recovery procedure to start the ball rolling as soon as an invoice becomes outstanding. At this stage it is beneficial to avoid taking too much of an aggressive stance immediately, as there may be a genuine reason why a bill has not been paid or it may have simply been overlooked.

However, if the matter continues and you find yourself unable to make any progress, then taking specialised legal advice is your next option.  Not only can we help you to claim back what is due to you (including late payment compensation in some instances), but we can also help you to put procedures in place to avoid this from happening in the future, and to maximise your capability to recover costs if necessary.

The Dispute Resolution team at BHP Law has years of experience in reviewing payment terms and also recovering debts owed to its clients, both commercial clients and individuals alike. Often it is possible to fix our fee for certain elements of our work in order to limit your cost exposure. This ensures you get the maximum benefit from any sums we recover for you.

If you require further information, please contact Josh Fraser from our Dispute Resolution team in Darlington at joshf@bhplaw.co.uk or 01325 466 794.