Unpaid debts can put the brakes on your business and create uncertainty and stress. At Dickins Hopgood Chidley, we offer a full business debt recovery service, from assisting you to comply with the Pre-action protocol, to issuing proceedings, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and representation at final hearings. 

The Pre-action protocol is the first step a business needs to go through to reclaim money owed by an individual or sole trader. This applies to public businesses and sole traders. It doesn’t apply to business to business debts.

The protocol sets out the actions that should be taken before a Court proceedings can be started, and has the aim of resolving the situation without going to Court, keeping costs down and reducing the time taken to recover the debt. A Court may impose sanctions on a party that has not complied with the protocol before starting proceedings.

Our Debt Recovery solicitors can assist with writing a Letter of Claim to the debtor (the person or sole trader who owes you money), or by writing a Debtor’s response if you are being asked to pay a debt.

For more information on the Pre-action protocol, please see our Debt recovery fact sheet.   

For debts outside of the protocol, such as business to business and customer to customer debts, Dickins Hopgood Chidley is able draw on its expertise in the areas of Dispute Resolution & Insolvency to provide the right advice for your circumstances.    

Where you believe that an outstanding debt is not in dispute, but the Debtor does not have the means to pay, we can provide you with advice in relation on commencing bankruptcy or winding up proceedings, dependant on whether the debtor is a business or individual. 

For more information on Insolvency, please see Dispute Resolution.

Sometimes the reason why a debt is unpaid is because there is a dispute.  Our specialist dispute resolution team will be able to help investigate any potential disputes and advise on the best course of action to take to recover the outstanding debt. We have more information on our Dispute Resolution page.

Alternative Dispute Resolution is the term given to the many ways of resolving a dispute that doesn’t involve going to Court, and may include negotiations, without prejudice meetings or mediation.

When considering debt recovery, the size of the debt may dictate which method of ADR is most appropriate. We can assist you with all areas of ADR. By taking the time to get to know you and your situation, we can tailor our support and guidance to your needs for the best, most practical and timely outcome.

Charlotte offers a free initial 30-minute consultation. Simply fill in the form on our Free Consultation page to see how we can help.