Pricing For Dealing With Commercial Debt Recovery For Debts Up To £100,000

The pricing detailed below applies strictly to debt recovery work carried out by our Debt Recovery and Dispute Resolution Departments against Limited Companies, Limited Liability partnerships and Partnerships where the debt is based on unpaid invoices only. It does not apply to debts or claims which arise in any other way and does not apply to the pursuit of debts against individuals whether or not that debt was accrued in their private capacity or in the nature of their business.

DEBT RECOVERY DEPARTMENT CHARGES

CHARGES FOR A PRE-ACTION LETTER

£25 for each Pre-Action Letter plus VAT (at 20%).

CHARGES FOR PREPARING THE CLAIM FORM

Our charges are as follows:-

DISBURSEMENTS

These are payments which we will need to make to a third party in this case the Court fee. The amount of the Court fee depends upon the value of the claim and is determined by the amount of the claim, these are subject to revision by the Court from time to time and you will be charged the fee which applies at the time of issuing the Claim Form, see below for the current fees:-

JUDGMENT CHARGES

If the Defendant does not file an Acknowledgement of Service we can enter a Judgment on your behalf and our charges for doing so are set our below:

If the Defendant files the Acknowledgement of Service but does not file a Defence we can enter Judgment on your behalf and our charges for doing so are set out below:-

The above fixed fees are the charges which will be made for carrying out the work described. They do not include advising you about the merits of your case, consideration of documents nor enforcement of any Judgment.

Where a Defence is received the case can no longer be dealt with by our Debt Recovery Department and it will be transferred to our Dispute Resolution Department.

If before proceedings are issued it becomes apparent that the debt will be Defended then we will recommend that the matter is transferred at that stage to our Dispute Resolution Department.

In the event that your matter is dealt with by our Dispute Resolution Department please see the pricing details below which are an estimate only. It is not intended to be a binding quotation for pursuing a debt. Each case is different and we will agree our charges with you at the outset of the case. In some cases we may be prepared to offer a fixed price for the work involved but this depends upon our assessment of the particular case.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION DEPARTMENT CHARGES

In most cases our costs will include:-

a)         our profit costs and

b)         disbursements. These are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties such as Court fees, courier fees and expert’s fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

c)         Barrister’s fee. We will always instruct a Barrister to represent you at any final hearings and may well recommend the instruction of a Barrister to deal with earlier hearings depending upon their complexity.

OUR PROFIT COSTS

Set out below are the average costs of pursuing a claim in the County Court for an unpaid debt. These figures may however vary depending upon the circumstances of the case. This is why we will always give you an individual costs estimate at the outset of the claim if it is clear that the matter will be Defended or as soon as we become aware that the matter will be Defended either in response to the pre-action letter or as a result of the filing of a Defence following the issue of a Claim Form. At this stage we will take into account the individual circumstances of your case.

Our costs are based on the amount of time we spend working on your case. Our hourly rate for this type of work is £250 per hour plus VAT (at 20%).

Simple case: £7,500 plus VAT (at 20%)

Medium complexity case: £10,000 plus VAT (at 20%)

High complexity case: £15,000 plus VAT (at 20%)

Examples of facts that could make a case more complex:

• If there is a dispute about whether goods were correctly received by the Debtor and whether or not they were damaged.
• Whether in the case of any work done there are allegations that the work was not done correctly and as a result the work has had to be re-done or it has caused the Debtor additional problems/expense.
• If the Debtor is a Litigant in Person.
• The number of Witnesses and documents.
• If the amount of the debt is more than £25,000 and the proceedings are allocated to the Multi Track.

DISBURSEMENTS

Disbursements are payments made to third parties and depend upon the precise nature of the case some examples are:

a)         Court fees. These will vary according to the value of the claim.

b)         Courier fees to deliver important documents to the Court, to the other side and to your Barrister. These would not normally exceed £100 on each occasion used.

c)         Expert’s Reports. These may be required if there is any allegation that work has been done negligently and/or has caused damage or additional costs to be incurred by the Defendant. The costs of these vary depending upon what sort of expert is required and the complexity of the case. The average cost of an Expert’s Report is approximately £1,000 plus VAT (at 20%).

In every case we will tell you the proposed disbursement and the cost before it is incurred.

BARRISTER’S FEES

We will recommend that a Barrister is instructed to represent you at any final hearing and may also recommend that a Barrister is instructed at some preliminary hearings depending upon the complexity of the hearing. A Barrister’s charge will depend upon the experience of the Barrister and the length of the hearing but are estimated to be between £1,500 - £3,000 plus VAT (at 20%) per day with additional fees known as “refresher fees” payable for every subsequent day of the final hearing estimated to be between £750 - £1,500 plus VAT (at 20%).

KEY STAGES

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following Key Stages of a Debt Recovery Claim:

• Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change).
• Where proceedings have already been issued, reviewing the Defence and advising you about the merits of the Defence and Counterclaim if any.
• Preparing a Reply and Defence to Counterclaim if appropriate.
• Dealing with Directions Questionnaire and advising you in relation to allocation of case and considering and drafting Directions.
• Preparing for and dealing with Case Management and Costs Case Management Conference (High Complexity cases only).
• Disclosure of documents.
• Taking Witness Statements, drafting Statements and agreeing them.
• Serving Witness Statements and reviewing and advising on the other party’s Witness Statement.
• Instruction of Expert where applicable and consideration of Report with you.
• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process and considering Mediation.
• Preparing for and attending trial including Instructions to Counsel.

The stages set out above are an indication of the stages which your claim may go through. Not all of the stages will apply to each case as that will depend upon how the case is allocated by the Court. For example, cases which have a value of less than £10,000 will be allocated to the Small Claims Track whereas more complex cases with a value of over £25,000 will  be allocated to the Multi Track and require attendance at a Costs Case Management Conference and the preparation of a Schedule of Costs for the Costs Case Management Conference. The allocation of a case will also determine whether it is necessary for us to attend the final hearing when a Barrister has been instructed or not.

HOW LONG WILL YOUR MATTER TAKE?

The time it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If a settlement is reached before proceedings are issued then the case may take no more than a few weeks. However if your claim proceeds to a final hearing, your case is likely to take between 9 – 12 months. This is just an estimate and we will be able to give you a more precise timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

WHO WILL CARRY OUT THE WORK ON YOUR CASE?

Your case will be handled by Fiona Gaskell. Please click Fiona Gaskell for a link to her profile.