AI-powered · developed by lawyers · UK small claims

Recover unpaid
invoices.
Keep your clients.

Turn late payments into recovered cash in weeks, not months. Professional approach with legal oversight — at a fraction of traditional legal costs.

Small claims up to £10,000·Pay only for what you use·No commission·UK only
LETTER BEFORE ACTION
Small Claim · < £10,000
Drafted with RobinReturn
ROBIN · RETURNEST · MMXXVI
14 February 2026
The Directors
Sample Debtor Co Ltd
United Kingdom

Letter Before Action · Invoice 2026-0188

Our records show an outstanding sum of £4,820.00 for works completed on 7 December 2025. Payment fell due on 21 December. Unless the sum is settled within fourteen days, a small claim may be commenced in the County Court.
Yours faithfully,
Authorised signatory
Issued via RobinReturn

Most invoices aren’t disputed — they’re forgotten. A clear, professional letter — sent at the right time — settles three in four debts before a court claim is ever filed.

The problem

Your money. Stuck in someone else’s account.

Your sale is only complete when the service is paid for. Thousands of UK businesses close each year — not because they failed, but because they waited too long to chase payment.

The smart ones recover what’s owed by putting the systems in place.

Time drain.

Days wasted per case. Chasing emails, awkward phone calls, tracking promises that never materialise. Time you should spend growing your business.

Cash flow strangled.

SMBs face cash flow problems. You can’t invest when working capital is stuck with non-paying clients. Growth grinds to a halt.

Recovery too expensive.

Going to court is expensive — and traditional legal fees can cost more than the debt you’d recover. Your completed work, unpaid and forgotten.

Thousands written off.

Getting paid seems impossible. Legal complexity, court forms, compliance requirements — overwhelming for busy business owners.

We built RobinReturn so the cost of asking is always less than the debt, and the tone is always one your client will recognise.

Relationship-first approach

Recover without
burning bridges.

Many businesses never chase unpaid invoices because they fear damaging client relationships. RobinReturn’s graduated approach gets you paid while preserving future business opportunities.

i.

A polite, professional reminder we send to your client. Often, clients simply forgot or had an administrative oversight. 5% settle here.

ii.

A formal yet respectful Letter Before Action, outlining the debt, interest and next steps. Most clients pay at this stage to avoid court proceedings. 70% settle here.

iii.

Only after both stages do we discuss a court claim. By then the debtor has had multiple opportunities to pay — and the law is on your side. 75% settle before court overall.

RobinReturn — first reminderFrom: [email protected]
Stage I · £2

A friendly nudge from your supplier

Hello,

We’re writing on behalf of your supplier regarding an unpaid invoice. The work was completed on time and payment is now overdue.

It’s likely an oversight — invoices fall behind for all sorts of reasons. If there’s a query on the work or the amount, we’d rather hear it now than later.

If everything is in order, you can settle below.

Warm regards,
Sent on your behalf via RobinReturn

PAY · ROBINRETURN.COM/INV
The four stages

From polite to
enforced — in four
clearly-priced steps.

~75% of cases settle before court proceedings.You only pay for the stage you reach. No subscription. No commission on what we recover. No ambiguity.
I

A polite reminder.

£2Per email · all-in

A friendly, professional reminder we send to your client on your behalf. Often, clients simply forgot or had an administrative oversight.

Sent by
Email · pay link · 7-day window
Tone
Administrative · relationship-preserving
Outcome
Debtor settles, schedules — or escalates
5%settle at the polite reminder stage
Email · Stage I

A friendly nudge from your supplier


Hello, we’re writing on behalf of your supplier regarding an unpaid invoice. It’s likely an oversight — if there’s a query on the work or the amount, we’d rather hear it now than later…

PAY · ROBINRETURN.COM/INV

II

A formal Letter Before Action.

£8Lawyer-developed template

A formal yet respectful letter outlining the debt, interest and next steps. Most clients pay at this stage to avoid court proceedings.

Drafted by
RobinReturn (developed by lawyers)
Sent by
Email PDF — postal optional
Tone
Measured · specific · pre-litigation
Outcome
Debtor settles, agrees terms — or escalates
70%of cases settle at the Letter Before Action stage
Letter Before Action · Stage II

Letter Before Action — Invoice 0188


Our records show an outstanding sum of £4,820.00. Unless the sum is settled within fourteen days, a small claim may be commenced in the County Court…

Authorised signatory

III

A County Court claim, prepared.

From £50+ HMCTS court fee · scaled to claim value

We prepare the Claim Form and supporting evidence pack. You file via Money Claim Online or by post. Court fees are paid directly to HMCTS and are recoverable on a win.

Filed by
You — MCOL or post
What we do
Prepare claim, evidence pack, particulars
Recoverable
Court fee, statutory interest, fixed costs
10%of cases settle at the court-claim stage
Claim Form · County Court

County Court Money Claims Centre


CLAIMANT
[Your business]
DEFENDANT
[Debtor company]
AMOUNT
£4,820 + statutory interest
COURT FEE
£205 (HMCTS scale)
IV

Default judgment.

Coming laterPricing published when the workflow goes live

If the debtor doesn’t respond, you can apply for default judgment and enforce it. We’ll publish pricing for this stage as the workflow goes live; for now RobinReturn covers Polite Reminder, Letter Before Action and Claim Form.

What it does
Judgment without trial when defendant fails to respond
Enforcement
Bailiff · attachment · charging order
Status
Workflow in development
15%of cases settle at the default-judgment stage
Default Judgment · Stage IV

Routes available after judgment is entered:

  • County Court bailiff. Standard route.
  • HCEO transfer-up. Judgments > £600.
  • Attachment of earnings. Where debtor is employed.
  • Charging order. Secured against property.
ROBIN · RETURNEST · MMXXVI

Every template is developed by lawyers and tuned for UK small claims under £10,000. The seal isn’t decorative — it’s the only reason any of this works.

RobinReturn is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. See the FAQ for the full position.

Pay per action

Calculate your recovery.

Drag the slider for your invoice value, then choose the most likely outcome. We’ll show what you pay us, what’s recoverable from the debtor, and what lands in your account.

£
£100£10,000
Estimate

If this settles after lba

Invoice owed£4,820
Statutory comp. (LPCDA s.5A)+ £70
RobinReturn fee− £43
Net to you£4,847

Court fees and statutory interest are recoverable from the debtor where the court agrees. Our fee is shown exclusive of VAT; court fees are exempt from VAT.

Your case desk

One screen. Every case. Every stage.

See exactly where every overdue invoice sits, what’s been sent, and what the debtor said. Each case carries its own audit trail — every reminder, every Letter Before Action, every reply, every receipt.

Connect Xero, QuickBooks or Sage and your unpaid invoices flow in automatically. When payment lands, it goes straight to your bank — RobinReturn never collects your money.

The alternatives

Why not just call a solicitor?

You can — and for a £40,000 contract dispute, you should. RobinReturn is built for the £100 to £10,000 invoices that ordinarily slip through the cracks: too small to interest a high-street firm, too important to write off, too relationship-sensitive for a collection agency.

ApproachCost shapeSpeedToneVisibility
High-street solicitor£250–£400 / hour + retainerWeeks per stageFormal · adversarialLimited client visibility
Collection agency15–35% of recovered sumAggressive · fastScripts · pressureDamages relationships
DIY · Money Claim OnlineCourt fees onlySlow without an LBAYours to draftSelf-service
RobinReturnFrom £2 per case · pay-per-actionMost cases settle before courtFirm · relationship-safeLive audit trail
What customers say

The right letter, at the right time.

A handful of UK businesses describing what changed when they stopped writing late invoices off and started chasing them properly. Names appear with permission.

We'd written off a substantial retention from a dissolved contractor. RobinReturn's structured approach pursued the directors and recovered the full amount. The professional tone meant we could still work with the directors' new company.

James Cooper · Director, BuildRight Construction Ltd

Substantial retention recovered · 6 weeks

Big corporate clients used to pay us whenever they felt like it. Now when they receive RobinReturn's letter, payment arrives within a week. The respectful tone means we haven't lost a single client — they just pay on time now.

Priya Patel
Founder, Digital Spark Creative Agency
Improved payment terms · 9 days average

Reduced our aged debt significantly in the first quarter. The dashboard makes it easy to see which clients are reliable and which need the legal push. Best part? We're still doing business with most of them.

Michael Chen
Finance Director, Precision Parts Manufacturing
Significant portfolio improvement · first quarter
75%
of cases settle before court proceedings
£2
to start · no commission ever
weeks
typical recovery — not months
Common questions

Asked,
and answered.

Everything you need to know about RobinReturn’s debt-recovery process — including where we stop and a solicitor or law firm starts.

RobinReturn is not a legal representative as understood under CPR 2.3(1).

RobinReturn is an AI-based system designed to help you recover B2B debts up to £10,000. We help you draft a Soft Letter, a Letter Before Action and a Court Claim — quickly and cost-effectively.

RobinReturn is not a law firm, and a lawyer–client relationship does not form between you and RobinReturn.

No. RobinReturn does not give legal advice. We only help you draft the documents necessary to start a debt claim of up to £10,000.

RobinReturn fees for issuing a Court Form are mostly set at the level the Court permits recovery of. Usually, if you win, the Court can award you both the RobinReturn fees and the Court fees. However, awarding those fees is at the discretion of the Court.

No. The only costs are:

  • RobinReturn stage fees (as shown on the pricing calculator)
  • Court fees, if you reach the Claim Form stage (HMCTS, exempt from VAT)
  • Enforcement fees, only if the debtor still won’t pay after judgment

All fees are disclosed upfront on the calculator before you start.

ROBIN · RETURNEST · MMXXVI

Ready to recover
your unpaid invoices?

Free to start. From £2 per case. No card required to check eligibility.

Bank-level security · Trusted by hundreds of UK businesses · Developed by lawyers