terms of payment...

To give a balanced account of the assignment I was so vocal about a little over a month ago, let me add the news that I have just been paid, and the full amount that I have invoiced, too. I would like to officially say that I appreciate this very much, and it is going a long way to making me reassess my stance towards this particular client after the previous discussions we had.

It is a little bit later than a month since I sent the invoice but that is still within the industry norm in the UK. For information purposes, I have found that most translation and interpreting agencies will pay once you send a reminder. I send reminders four weeks after sending the invoice. Some agencies will pay (according to their own top's) at the end of the month following the month in which they received the invoice, so in a worst case scenario you'd have to wait 2 calendar months to get paid (if you so happen to invoice at the very beginning of a month). Even that is something I can live with as I will still have a fair idea as to when I will have this money in my account.

However, there are still the other agencies that pay when they feel like it. I stopped working for most of those as better, more reliable clients came along. At the end of the day, I cannot pay my bills with money that one day in the distant future will be mine and theoretically already has been for months. I have also always found chasing agencies for my pay a very disagreeable and humiliating exercise. Why would I have to go begging for money that I've earned? It's not charity to pay me, it's a contractual obligation. The analogy I like to use is this: I don't turn up to a conference the week after, either, do I?

To end on a positive note: there are agencies that actually pay before I ever get around to sending a reminder, usually around 2 to 3 weeks after the invoice date. Those are my favourites as my job for them is done once I send the invoice and enter all the final details in my big order book. I can then focus on my real work, which is interpreting and translating.

P.S.:

There is a (this is only my impression) little known piece of legislation called the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, added to by the Late Payment of Commercial Debt Regulations 2002, which give every sole trader the right to charge statutory interest on late payments, whether or not this has been mentioned in the terms of business. I prefer to mention it anyway by having the following footer in all my invoices:

Payment terms:

Payment to be received within 28 calendar days, unless otherwise agreed.

In accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002, late payment incurs interest at the rate of 10,00% (reference rate 1 January to 30 June 2009 + 8%).

There is also a very useful internet resource for sole traders wishing to use this legislation. I use this interest calculator all the time as it makes it very easy to calculate the interest owed to you by keying in the relevant information.

The same website offers a table of the interest rates to be applied in the relevant 6 month period in an interest table.

Somewhere they also have templates of very official sounding letters you might wish to send to the accounting department of the tardy client. Just fill in the blanks with your details. Very helpful, although I have never used them.

Everything else I know about this legislation and how to apply it was found on the same website. I found it a great help to find out what statutory protection there actually is from clients who leave us high and dry financially.

My personal experience is that most clients won't pay the interest (although some have) but will pay up without much further undue delay. As such adding progressive interest to every reminder is a much more forceful argument than just sending the reminder on its own.