Chase invoices, protect cash flow, and get paid on time, without the awkward phone calls.
Late-paying customers are the single biggest cash flow killer for UK small businesses, and chasing them eats hours you should be spending on the work itself. Our outsourced credit control service handles the polite-but-firm follow-up for you, from statement runs and reminder sequences to statutory late-payment interest and pre-legal escalation. You keep the customer relationship; we keep your ledger clean and your bank balance healthy.
We run a timed reminder sequence across email, letter and phone from before the due date through to overdue escalation, so nothing slips through the cracks. Each step is tracked against your sales ledger in Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage, giving you a live view of who owes what and when they were last contacted.
We reconcile your aged debtors report regularly, matching receipts to invoices, clearing allocations and flagging disputed or duplicated items. A clean ledger means your chasing is accurate, nobody gets chased for an invoice they have already paid, which protects the relationships that matter to you.
Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 you can charge interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate plus fixed compensation per invoice. We calculate and apply these entitlements correctly, which often prompts payment on its own and ensures you are not leaving money on the table.
Prevention beats collection. We help you set sensible credit limits and payment terms, run credit checks on new accounts, and build clear terms and conditions so payment expectations are agreed up front. Getting this right at onboarding is the cheapest way to avoid bad debt later.
When a debt is genuinely irrecoverable, you should not be out of pocket for VAT you have already paid HMRC. We identify invoices that qualify for bad-debt relief, typically once they are over six months overdue and written off, and reclaim the VAT through your return so a lost sale does not become a double loss.
For stubborn debtors we manage the final stages: formal letters before action, settlement negotiation, and a clean handover pack should you choose to instruct a solicitor or use the small claims process. We also handle genuine disputes professionally, separating real queries from delay tactics so you only escalate where it is warranted.
You are the sales team, the delivery team and the accounts team all at once. Chasing money is the job that never reaches the top of the list. This is credit control for small business owners with no time to chase, so we take it off you.
You have five to twenty people, and nobody actually owns getting paid. So it lands on whoever is free, and customers quietly learn they can pay you last.
Long trade terms and thin margins make the timing of cash matter more than almost anything. We keep that money moving, so stock and ad budgets stay funded.
Agencies and consultancies often wait thirty to sixty days to be paid. We provide steady b2b credit control, so that wait does not quietly stretch to ninety.
You work with one named, qualified accountant who knows your ledger and your customers, not a faceless call centre. Every chase reflects your brand and tone, so debt collection never costs you a client relationship.
Credit control is included within our transparent fixed-fee plans at £129, £250 or £499 per month, billed on a rolling monthly basis with no long tie-in. You always know the cost, and there are no surprise per-call or commission charges eating into the cash you recover.
Consistent, professional chasing shortens your debtor days and shrinks the pile of invoices that quietly turn into bad debts. More of the revenue you have already earned actually reaches your bank account, when you need it.
Stop dreading the awkward payment-reminder call. We absorb the admin, the follow-ups and the difficult conversations, freeing you to focus on delivering work and winning new business.
We respond to your queries within 72 hours, and every engagement is backed by our 30-day money-back guarantee. If we are not the right fit in the first month, you are not locked in.
Credit control is the friendly, ongoing system that gets your invoices paid on time. Mostly it is reminders, sent before and around the due date, so payment never slips your customer’s mind. This is the heart of good accounts receivable management.
People often muddle three different things, and keeping them apart matters, because each one feels very different to your customer.
The first is the gentle, day-to-day work that keeps invoices flowing in. Debt recovery is the firmer step once an invoice is already overdue. A debt collection agency, sometimes sold as debt collection services, is the last resort: a third party you hand the debt to, usually for a cut of whatever they claw back.
We work across the first two, with a calm accountant’s touch. The whole point of doing this well is that you almost never need the third.
Sometimes an invoice goes past its date however polite the reminders. That is where small business debt recovery begins, the point where credit control and debt management overlap. It is the same calm approach, just a little firmer, with clearer deadlines.
We handle this stage for you and keep you informed at every turn. If we ever need to recover an unpaid invoice formally, you decide how far it goes.
| Credit control | Debt recovery | Debt collection agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A friendly system that gets invoices paid on time | A firmer process once an invoice is overdue | A third party you pass the debt to as a last resort |
| When it happens | Before and around the due date | After the invoice is late | When everything else has failed |
| How it feels to your customer | A normal, polite reminder | A clear, professional follow-up | An outside agency chasing them |
| Does Zmartly do it? | Yes, this is our core job | Yes, we handle this too | No, we help you avoid needing one |
A sale is not really a sale until the money lands in your account. Until then it sits on your books as a debtor, and you still have to pay staff, suppliers and VAT on time. When customers pay late, that gap has to be funded from your own pocket or an overdraft.
The number to watch is your days sales outstanding, or DSO: the average number of days it takes to get paid. A rising DSO is an early warning that cash is draining, even while sales look healthy. Bringing it down is the fastest way to free up money you have already earned.
Two things push DSO up. The first is not having a steady dunning process, the set sequence of reminders that follows each invoice from before its due date through to overdue. The second is slow payment methods: even when a customer pays by Bacs, the transfer can take up to three working days to clear, so a paid invoice still is not cash you can spend today.
Consistent chasing fixes the first, and clear terms plus faster payment options fix the second. Both feed straight into a healthier forecast, which is why credit control and cash flow planning work best side by side.
Late payment is rarely about customers who can’t pay. It’s about invoices that aren’t chased consistently. The job slips to whoever’s free that week, follow-up gets patchy, and customers quietly learn they can pay you last. We fix that with a structured cadence run under your trading name, so your customers never realise an external team is involved.
It starts the moment we take on your ledger: we review your aged debt, agree the tone and escalation points with you, and connect to your accounting software. A reminder goes out a week before each invoice is due, a polite nudge on the due date itself, then firmer follow-ups at 7, 14 and 30 days overdue. Genuine disputes get flagged to you early, before they harden into write-offs. You receive a weekly report showing exactly who’s been contacted, what was said and what’s been collected, and we work directly inside Xero, QuickBooks and Sage, so nothing is keyed twice.
See also: how we keep your sales ledger reconciled
A full-time credit controller costs £28,000 to £35,000 a year before National Insurance, holiday cover, software and the time it takes to recruit one. Outsourcing gives you that same expertise for a fraction of the cost, with no hiring, training or sick days to manage.
It is included from £250/month on Premium Plus (volume capped to suit smaller ledgers) and runs uncapped on our £499/month Enterprise plan, with no commission on what we collect, no per-letter charges and no surprises on the invoice. For most SME ledgers the service releases more cash in its first quarter than it costs for the whole year, because pulling your average debtor days down by even a fortnight frees up working capital you’ve already earned but haven’t yet been paid.
The honest answer is that it depends on your customers and your terms, but the direction is consistent. Most clients see their average debtor days fall by 15 to 25 within the first 90 days, and overdue invoices drop sharply once customers learn that late payment is now noticed and followed up, every single time.
That shift matters more than winning new work. A business turning over £1m that collects just 15 days faster releases roughly £40,000 of cash it was already owed, without selling a single extra invoice.
Where a customer still will not engage, the law is on your side. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 you can charge interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus fixed compensation per invoice.
We apply this only with your sign-off, and often the entitlement alone is enough to get the invoice paid. For the rare genuine non-payer, we escalate to a regulated recovery partner, so it never quietly turns into a bad-debt write-off.
13-week rolling cash forecasts, runway analysis, and treasury support.
Read more3-statement forecasts, scenario modelling, and investor-grade financial models.
Read moreBank-ready and investor-ready business plans with financials that hold up.
Read moreDirect line to your account manager for the questions that come up between calls.
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Day one. A pre-due-date reminder goes out a week before the invoice is due, a polite nudge on the due date itself, then structured follow-ups at 7, 14, and 30 days overdue. Early intervention is the single biggest lever on debtor days - by day 60 most disputes have hardened and recovery rates fall sharply.
It would if we used aggressive language - we do not. Communications are firm, professional, and brand-aligned, written under your trading name not ours. Most clients tell us their customers never realise an external team is involved. The point is to make late payment uncomfortable without damaging the trading relationship.
Yes - the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act lets B2B suppliers charge 8% above the Bank of England base rate plus a fixed compensation amount (£40 to £100 per invoice depending on size) on any commercial debt paid late. We can apply this on your behalf where the commercial relationship supports it, and the threat alone often accelerates payment.
We are credit control, not a debt collection agency. We handle structured chasing, dispute resolution, payment plans, and statutory interest. For genuinely uncooperative debtors we transition the matter to a regulated debt recovery partner or solicitor for letter before action and County Court Money Claim - with your sign-off at each step.
It is included in our fixed monthly plans (from £250, uncapped at £499), with no commission and no per-letter charges. Most clients see average debtor days drop by 15 to 25 within the first 90 days, which on typical SME ledgers releases more cash than the service costs in the first quarter.
All the major UK platforms - Xero, QuickBooks and Sage - plus most cloud ERPs. We work inside your existing system rather than asking you to switch or send spreadsheets, so your ledger stays the single source of truth and your bookkeeper sees exactly the same picture we do. If you're on something less common, we'll confirm compatibility before you commit to anything.
The usual trigger is when chasing payment starts eating hours that should go into running the business - or when it keeps landing on whoever happens to be free, so follow-up is inconsistent and customers learn they can pay late. If your average debtor days are creeping past your payment terms, you're writing off invoices you should have collected, or you simply dread the awkwardness of chasing clients you value, it's time. Most businesses outsource long after the cost of not doing so has quietly added up - the earlier you start, the faster the ledger settles.
Our office is at 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU, and we work with businesses across London and the whole of the UK, from West London to the coast. Distance is rarely the point: everything runs online inside your own software. You get the same cash collection services and the same named accountant wherever you trade, and you can reach us on 020 8175 5145.
I’ve had an excellent experience working with Zmartly. Harvey and the team are professional, responsive, and genuinely supportive. They explain things clearly, stay on top of deadlines, and always look for practical ways to save tax and improve…
I’ve used several accountants in the past, but hands down there is no one better than Harvey at Zmartly. He really understands exactly what advice you’re looking for and explains everything clearly and professionally. Nothing ever feels rushed…
I started working with Zmartly Accountants after having serious issues with my previous accounting firm. They were missing deadlines, incorrectly calculating VAT, constantly late, and extremely difficult and frustrating to communicate with. Switching to Zmartly was a huge…
I've had a terrible experience with multiple accountants. Zmartly have been incredible. If you do ecommerce / Amazon FBA you definitely need to go with someone who understands the complexities with it. Thanks to Harvey and his amazing…
Its not easy to find accountants who understand ecommerce especially Amazon and these guys know Amazon very well. Always helps us with advice if they spot something we incorrectly. Super easy to speak with someone if you have…
I’ve had an excellent experience working with Zmartly. Harvey and the team are professional, responsive, and genuinely supportive. They explain things clearly, stay on top of deadlines, and always look for practical ways to save tax and improve…
I’ve used several accountants in the past, but hands down there is no one better than Harvey at Zmartly. He really understands exactly what advice you’re looking for and explains everything clearly and professionally. Nothing ever feels rushed…
I started working with Zmartly Accountants after having serious issues with my previous accounting firm. They were missing deadlines, incorrectly calculating VAT, constantly late, and extremely difficult and frustrating to communicate with. Switching to Zmartly was a huge…
I've had a terrible experience with multiple accountants. Zmartly have been incredible. If you do ecommerce / Amazon FBA you definitely need to go with someone who understands the complexities with it. Thanks to Harvey and his amazing…
Its not easy to find accountants who understand ecommerce especially Amazon and these guys know Amazon very well. Always helps us with advice if they spot something we incorrectly. Super easy to speak with someone if you have…
Thirty minutes with a qualified accountant. Most owners uncover £1,000-£3,000 in annual savings on the first call. If we are not the right fit, you walk away with a free tax review on the house.
