The challenge
The situation
A UK university's commercial team was owed £57,000 by an NHS trust on a single invoice. It was 923 days overdue, about two and a half years.
What we did
What happened
Because this was a commercial debt with a UK debtor, we added statutory interest (£18,115) and recovery costs (£5,700) under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act from the first letter.
The first emails got no response. When we told the trust a County Court claim would follow, its transactional services manager replied the same week. The invoice had been stuck in internal approval, and she was now pushing it through.
Four days later, the invoice was approved for that day's payment run. A few days after that, the interest and costs were approved as well.
The outcome
The result
The trust paid £80,815 in full, 25 days after placement. The university received £23,815 more than it had invoiced.
