Every fee is fixed and published. Letters are free; claim, judgment, writ, bank and charging order fees are set at the fixed costs the court adds to what the debtor owes. You approve each step before we take it.
If the officer recovers nothing, they charge you an abortive fee of £79 + VAT. A business debtor also owes you statutory interest at 8% over base rate and fixed compensation of £70.00, which we claim for you. Court fees and the fixed costs the rules allow are added to what the debtor owes; you get them back only when the debtor pays or enforcement collects. On the small claims track the court does not award legal costs beyond those fixed sums, so our fee for a defended hearing is not added. If the debtor never pays, you lose the court fees and our fees for the steps taken, which is why the free debtor check comes first. We take no commission from you or from enforcement agents.
Marshal fees are shown before VAT at 20%; totals include it. VAT-registered businesses can usually reclaim it. Court fees are set by HMCTS and carry no VAT. Defended claims are priced separately; see the full price list.
Correct as of 18 October 2026. Marshal fees exclude VAT at 20%. Court fees are set by HMCTS (EX50) and carry no VAT. Fixed costs are those the court allows under the Civil Procedure Rules (Part 45 and Practice Direction 45).
| Service | Marshal fee | Recoverable from the debtor? | Court fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debtor check and recovery planWe check the debtor at Companies House and the insolvency registers, read your invoice or judgment, work out the balance with interest, and set out the route most likely to pay. If a debtor looks unable to pay, we say so before you spend anything. | Free | Not applicable | None |
| Polite chaserA reminder on our letterhead, sent by email and post, with the interest and compensation the law lets you add. | Free | Not applicable | None |
| Letter before actionA formal demand that follows the pre-action rules: 30 days for an individual or sole trader, 14 days for a company. Most debts are paid at this stage. | Free | Not applicable | None |
| Replying to the debtorWe answer the debtor's letters, take your instructions on any offer, and record a payment plan if you accept one. | Free | Not applicable | None |
| Property and further searchesHM Land Registry titles and other searches when a route needs them, so we only choose a route that can work. | Free | Land Registry fees can be allowed on a charging order | Search fees at cost, e.g. £7 per Land Registry title |
| Service | Marshal fee | Recoverable from the debtor? | Court fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claim form and particulars of claimWe issue the claim in the County Court, with interest and the compensation the law allows. Our fee is the fixed commencement cost the court adds to the debt: £50 up to £500, £70 up to £1,000, £80 up to £5,000, £100 up to £10,000. | £50–£100 | All of it, as fixed costs on issue, once judgment is entered | £35 to £455, by claim value, added to the judgment |
| Judgment in defaultIf the debtor does not respond, we ask the court to enter judgment. £22 (£30 over £5,000) where the debtor ignores the claim; £25 (£35) where they acknowledge it but file no defence. These are the fixed costs the court adds to the judgment. | £22–£35 | All of it, as fixed costs on entry of judgment | None |
| Admission and payment proposalIf the debtor admits the debt and offers instalments, we take your instructions and have the court enter judgment on the terms agreed, or decided. | £40–£70 | All of it, as fixed costs | None |
| Defended claim: reply and hearing preparationIf the debtor defends, we reply, deal with directions and mediation, and prepare the witness statements and bundle for the small claims hearing. Our fee is banded by claim value: £200 for claims of £1,000 to £5,000, £400 up to £10,000. | £5–£400 | Our fee: no. On the small claims track the court does not award legal costs unless a party behaves unreasonably. The hearing fee: yes, if you win | Hearing fee £27 to £346, by claim value, repaid by the debtor if you win |
| Advocate at the hearingOptional. A fixed quote for a solicitor or barrister to attend the hearing for you. | Fixed quote | No | None |
| Service | Marshal fee | Recoverable from the debtor? | Court fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrant of control N323County Court enforcement agents visit the debtor to collect payment or take goods to sell. For judgments under £5,000. | £19 | £2.25, and the £96 court fee is added to the warrant | £96 |
| Transfer to the High Court and writ of control N293AA High Court Enforcement Officer enforces. For judgments of £600 or more; judgments of £5,000 or more must use this route unless the debt is under a regulated consumer credit agreement. The officer's fees are paid by the debtor. | £51.75 | All £51.75 of our fee. The £82 court fee is added to the writ and collected from the debtor first | £82. If the officer recovers nothing, they charge you an abortive fee of £79 + VAT |
| Attachment of earnings order N337For employed individuals and County Court judgments of £50 or more. The court orders the employer to pay you part of the debtor's wages every payday. | £15 | The £139 court fee, plus £8.50 for each hearing we attend | £139 per debtor |
| Order to obtain information N316 / N316AThe debtor, or an officer of a debtor company, must answer questions on oath at court about income, bank accounts and assets. | £25 | If the court allows: the court fee and £15 for each half hour of questioning, repaid only if a later step recovers money | £69, plus £139 if a court bailiff serves the order. The debtor can ask you to pay their reasonable travel to court |
| Attending the questioning hearingOptional. We attend court and ask the questions for you. From £95, plus travel to courts outside London. | From £95 | No. Only the £15 per half hour above can be recovered | None |
| Third party debt order N349Freezes money in the debtor's bank account, then orders the bank to pay you. Works only if the account holds money when the order arrives. | £98.50 | All £98.50 of our fee on a final order (half of what is recovered, if under £150) | £139 per bank |
| Charging order N379Secures the judgment on the debtor's property, so you are paid when it is sold or remortgaged. | £110 | All £110 of our fee on a final order, plus Land Registry fees | £139 per property |
| Order for saleA separate court claim asking for a charged property to be sold. We give a fixed quote after reviewing the file. | £950 to £2,500 | The court decides | Depends on the claim |
| Service | Marshal fee | Recoverable from the debtor? | Court fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tracking, updates and route changesChasing the court and enforcement agents, recalculating the balance, telling you what happened, and moving to the next route if one fails. No commission from you, and none from enforcement agents. | Free | Not applicable | None |
For companies with a steady flow of overdue invoices: the work of a credit controller, run by software and overseen by a solicitor.
Court steps stay at the same published fees, so your legal costs are still mostly repaid by the debtor. Cancel any month.
Paying as we go: before we file a court step we ask for the court fee and our fee for that step. We hold it in our client account, pay the court fee when we file, and take our fee only after we have sent you a bill. Recovered money is paid by the debtor to you directly, or through our client account if an enforcement officer collects it.
High Court Enforcement Officers charge their own fees under the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations. Those fees are paid by the debtor; if nothing is recovered the officer charges you an abortive fee (£79 + VAT for cases received from 1 May 2026).
Recovering costs is never guaranteed: it depends on the debtor being able to pay, and the court decides what is allowed. If the debtor never pays, you bear the court fees and our fees for the steps taken.
What each fee covers: preparing, checking and filing the document, and dealing with the court and enforcement agents. It does not cover claims over £10,000, barristers, process servers, the debtor's travel costs or Land Registry fees; we quote for those first. Work is done by our team and supervised by Jackson Ng, a solicitor admitted in England and Wales.
Typical timescales: a letter before action gives the debtor 14 or 30 days; a claim takes four to six weeks to reach judgment if undefended; a writ or warrant is usually issued within days and a first visit follows within weeks; bank and property orders take one to three months to become final; earnings orders pay in monthly instalments.