How Long Do You Have to Chase an Unpaid Invoice in the UK?

In the UK, you generally have six years to bring a court claim for an unpaid invoice, running from the date the debt became due. This comes from section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, which treats most invoices as a simple contract debt.

After six years, the debt still technically exists, but you can no longer enforce it through the courts if the person who owes it raises that time limit as a defence. Anything you intend to chase is worth acting on well before that point.

1. The short answer: 6 years

Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 states: "An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued." An ordinary business invoice, whether or not you ever signed a written contract, counts as a simple contract debt for this purpose.

That means a creditor generally has six years from the date the debt became due to issue a county court claim. Miss that window, and the debtor can raise the Limitation Act as a defence to have the claim struck out, regardless of how clearly the money is owed.

The twelve-year specialty period is rare for freelance and small business invoicing. It generally applies where the underlying agreement was executed as a deed, not a standard set of terms or a quote and purchase order, so most readers of this guide are working to the six-year rule.

2. When does the clock actually start?

The six years runs from when the "cause of action accrued", which in practice means the date the debt became due for payment, not the date on the invoice and not the date the work was finished.

If your terms say payment is due 30 days from the invoice date, the clock starts 30 days after that invoice date, not on the day you issued it and not on the day you delivered the work.

3. Does this mean the debt disappears after 6 years?

No, and this is the part most people get wrong. Passing the six-year mark doesn't erase the debt or mean the client no longer owes the money. It means the debt becomes what's called statute-barred: still owed, but no longer enforceable through the courts if the debtor chooses to raise limitation as a defence.

Limitation isn't applied automatically by the court either. If you issue a claim after six years and the debtor doesn't raise the Limitation Act in their defence, the claim can still proceed. In practice, though, it's a well-known defence, and most debtors, or their solicitors, will raise it if it applies.

A statute-barred debt can also still be paid voluntarily. Nothing stops a client from settling an old invoice they know is genuinely owed. What you lose is the ability to force the issue through Money Claim Online or the county court once the window has closed.

4. What restarts the clock

Two things can restart the six-year period, under sections 29 and 30 of the Limitation Act 1980: a part payment of the debt, or a written acknowledgment of it, signed by the person who owes the money.

A written acknowledgment has to actually be in writing and signed by the debtor, or their agent, to count. A verbal admission that "yes, we still owe you that" doesn't reset anything on its own. Get it in writing instead, an email is enough, and keep it on file.

5. Why you shouldn't wait anywhere near 6 years anyway

Six years is the legal limit, not a sensible target. Waiting anywhere near it stacks the odds against you in ways that have nothing to do with the law itself.

Evidence degrades. Emails get deleted, people who agreed the original terms leave the business, and a client's memory of what was agreed gets vaguer every year the invoice sits unpaid.

Contact details go stale too. A sole trader or small company you could reach easily at the time may have moved, rebranded, or stopped trading altogether by year four or five, and tracking down a dissolved company to chase a debt is far harder and more expensive than sending a firm letter today.

Insolvency risk grows the longer a debt is left unpaid. The longer you wait, the more chance a struggling client becomes an insolvent one, at which point you're competing with every other creditor rather than simply asking to be paid.

Interest still needs to be calculated correctly however long you wait, and the older the debt, the more fiddly that sum becomes, especially if the Bank of England base rate has moved more than once across the period. Statutory interest currently runs at 11.75% a year, and our guide to charging interest on overdue invoices covers working that figure out correctly, however long the debt has been outstanding, or skip straight to our late payment interest calculator to get the figure instantly.

For the full step-by-step escalation sequence this fits into, from the first reminder through to Money Claim Online, see our complete guide to chasing an unpaid invoice in the UK. If a firm chase like this doesn't work, the next formal step is a letter before action, which needs to follow a specific protocol before you can issue a claim.

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