As an update to all who have contributed and those who have been following this thread: Having recieved no further communication regarding payment of outstanding invoices, on November 20th 2013 I completed a claim with MCOL which cost £210. The procedure allows 5 days for the 'service' of the claim and a further 14 days for the Defendant to respond. I have received no reply and today completed a request for 'Judgment' online with MCOL. There is no cost for this. I will keep you posted as I procede. Thunderwing

Will do. Thanks. TWS

Thank you. That's all the encouragement I needed. It seems like a no brainer now!

I have sent a 'letter before action' and today recieved an email threatening to send me 'to the back of the que' of contractors to be paid. Surely, appart from being morally reprehensible, this is illegal but what can I do about it?

Thank you so much for replying. I've found this whole ordeal a real pain but now have a good clear plan for the way forward.

Thanks for the correction. I didn't want the title to get too long and convoluted and so tryed to keep the basic gist of my problem.

Thank you so much. I've been reading every article I could find relating to this issue and have just ended up confused by all the options. You've really helped me out of a hole.

I'm self-employed and I'm owed money for work that I've done for a company this summer. Can anybody advise me what my rights are and how I can recover the debt quickly and with the minimum cost to myself? I have invoices totalling £7.5k, the oldest of which is now seven weeks passed due. The company in question charge their clients up-front for services but are telling me that they have no money 'in the pot' with which to pay me. They may have used these funds to develop other projects or pay off existing debt but I'm sure that would mean that they are trading insolvently. Whilst telling me that they will pay, they refuse to commit to a payment date and have left me penniless and desperate.