The Date for the Job

A MEMBER writes: If anything, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 seems to have made some payers even worse. Here are a couple of examples from the past two months: Network Magazines (contract publishing) 60 days; and River Publishing Ltd (contract publishing) 60 days.

Remember, though, that you can claim the interest back many years after it was incurred. So if you have an idle moment in five years' time, fish out those old invoices from 1999 and fire off some more invoices on the ones that turned out to be late...

The catch in the Act is that clients can (try to) specify when is "late" in contracts. Please send reports of how clients are actually doing to editor@londonfreelance.org, or fax them to 0171-278 1812. If no-one specifies a date, you can charge interest at 8% over Base Rate, starting 30 days after the invoice date.