Debt Recovery Pricing - Butcher & Barlow LLP

Debt Recovery – Business to Business Debt that is Undisputed

The Solicitors Regulatory Authority, the body which regulates law firms, require us to provide you with information on our costs in relation to certain legal services which we provide. This is so that you have the information you need to make an informed choice of legal service provider, and an understanding as to what the total cost of that service may be.

One such legal service is the advice and representation for the recovery of debt up to the value of £100,000. For any other value of debt, please contact the Debt Recovery Team to discuss costs.

The cost guide below applies only in circumstances where your claim is in relation to:-

an unpaid invoice;
which is not disputed (so when the debt is unpaid and unchallenged by the Debtor); and
enforcement action is not needed.

These costs assume that the Debtor is a Limited Company or a Partnership.

Debt Value	Court Fee to issue the claim (VAT not applicable)	Our Fee (plus VAT)	Total
Up to £5,000	For the up to date court fee see www.gov.uk/government/publications/fees-in-the-civil-and-family-courts-main-fees-ex50	£800 plus £160 VAT (£960)	£960 (including VAT) plus Court Fee
£5,001 – £10,000	£455	£1,200 plus £240 VAT (£1440)	£1,895 (including VAT and Court Fee)
£10,001 – £100,000	5% of the value of the claim	£2,000 plus £400 VAT (£2400)	£2400 (Including VAT) plus Court Fee

The pricing above is based on the following information:-

Court Fees are prescribed by H M Courts & Tribunals Service and are subject to change. At the time of writing the Court Fees displayed in the table above are accurate. Up to date information on court fees can be accessed utilising the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/fees-in-the-civil-and-family-courts-main-fees-ex50

Our fees are calculated on the assumption that the hourly rate adopted is £260 per hour plus VAT charged at 20%.
There may also be disbursements payable. These are costs relating to your claim that are payable to 3^rd parties, for example, the instruction of a Tracing Agent to identify your Debtor or instruction of a Process Server for serving a Statutory Demand. We handle the payment of these fees to the 3^rd party to ensure a smoother process. Any third party disbursements are excluded from the table above as these are unknown at present time and/or likely to be incurred when the debt becomes disputed and so would be subject to a separate costs estimate but could be anywhere up to £1000 plus VAT (£1200).
VAT at 20% is payable in addition to our charges as outlined in the table above, but is not usually recoverable from the Debtor (you can, however, recover the VAT yourselves if you are VAT registered).
Court Fees will become due and payable on the issue of the Court Claim and not at the conclusion of the matter.

Our fee includes:

Taking your initial instructions and reviewing relevant documentation.
Undertaking appropriate cursory searches, i.e to ascertain the correct party to recover the outstanding debt from.
Sending a Letter Before Action, or, alternatively, a Late Payment Demand (which not only claims a basic debt but also interest and compensation).
Receiving payment and sending it on to you, or if the debt is not paid, drafting and issuing Claim Form (N1).
Where no Acknowledgement of Service or Defence is received in response to your issued Claim, applying to the Court to enter Judgment in default.
When Judgment in default is received, writing to the other side to request payment.
If payment is not received within 14 days, providing you with advice on next steps and likely costs.

Our fee excludes:

Any negotiated Settlement in relation to the payment of your outstanding debt.
Any discussions with regard to a Payment Plan.
Contested debt (see below).
Any enforcement action that is required.
Any Insolvency or Bankruptcy issues.
Dealing with an Insolvent or Bankrupt Debtor.
Dealing with Insolvency and Bankruptcy issues in relation to you
Sourcing Debtors with unknown whereabouts.
Dealing with a Defended Claim.
Counter Claims or Set Offs against the unpaid sum.
Drafting a Statutory Demand and accompanying Witness Statements and documentation.
Debt Recovery Claims against individuals.
Multi party action.
Jurisdictional issues.
Any other complicated or unexpected issue which may arise from time to time (and which we will duly identify and report).

Every situation is different and so timeframes are difficult to prescribe. Straightforward, non-disputed debts usually take 2-6 weeks from receipt of instructions to the recovery of a sum of money, assuming that no Claim needs to be issued. You can view a flow chart of the key stages of the debt recovery process here and an guide to the process and time frames here.

This time estimate is also on the basis that the other side pays promptly. If a formal Claim is required to be advanced then the matter will become governed by the timetable of the Court which varies depending on the Court which is local to yourself and that particular Court’s workflow at the relevant time. We are aware that debt recovery claims increase significantly as matters approach the end of the financial year and so we would advise that around that particular period matters may be slightly more protracted than if they are advanced earlier in the year. If enforcement action is required, the matter will take longer to resolve.

Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that:

The VAT element of our fee cannot necessarily be reclaimed from your debtor.
Interest and compensation that has accrued on your outstanding invoice may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost and as outlined in the table above.
The costs quoted above are subject to the clarifications and exclusions, which are shown above.

Disputed Claims

If the other party disputes your claim at any point, we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice about costs if necessary, which could be on a fixed fee (e.g. if a one off letter is required), or an hourly rate if more extensive work is needed. The hourly rate is determined by the fee earner dealing with your matter and will be agreed with you before the work is undertaken.

The current hourly rate bands are set out below. These rates do not include VAT which will be charged at 20%.

Senior Partners and Consultants	£220-£350
Junior Partners	£190-£300
Solicitors/Senior Executives	£150-£275
Legal Executives and Senior Clerks	£140-£200
Trainee Solicitors and Clerks	£100-£175

There will also be additional disbursements payable where a claim is disputed such as additional Court fees, a hearing fee if the matter proceeds to a hearing and enforcement fees if the Debtor does not pay. We will discuss these additional disbursements with you if necessary.