Witholding pay of a freelance

Funky_Bold_Ribena

If she has no contract [as you keep saying] then how does she know what to invoice?

As said before, Letter before Action and then small claims court.

paddyrg

This is a straight small claims court action - I assume the worked hours are not disputed and can be demonstrated on her part, so the unpaid invoices should be a simple enough grounds for a court judgement. It's cheap and easy to claim moneyclaim.gov.uk for more background info. As mentioned by other posters above, you need to send a 'letter before action' first, to demonstrate to the court that you're trying to settle amicably.

spacey2012

If she has no contract or no official order for the work as this is a business to business contract, she has a very poor chance of small claims action.

Something she might want to look at in future contracts:
Official order for the work OR contract stipulating terms and rates of work to be invoiced for.

Never work business to business with just a nod or a phone call, the reasons are for this.

AP007

spacey2012 wrote: »

If she has no contract or no official order for the work as this is a business to business contract, she has a very poor chance of small claims action.

Something she might want to look at in future contracts:
Official order for the work OR contract stipulating terms and rates of work to be invoiced for.

Never work business to business with just a nod or a phone call, the reasons are for this.

There are lots of companies that have goods and services without a contract in place. The terms should always be on the invoice and the customer should pay.

spacey2012

AP007 wrote: »

There are lots of companies that have goods and services without a contract in place. The terms should always be on the invoice and the customer should pay.

Goods are different and services are usually on acceptance of a written quotation which forms a contract upon accepting terms.
Business to business transactions are rarely done on face value, or just a nod and a wink as you dont have the benefit of consumer or employee legislation .

This may be "how it works" in some games, but enforcing what you think you are owed takes a lot more than goodwill.

Nednats

Although is a freelancer check if she is worker. As she maybe able Employment Tribunal rather than Small Claims if she is.

If she worked at her employer's premises and used her employer's tools and/or facilities, worked exclusively for one business rather than performing work for a number of 'customers' She maybe a worker.

purpledonkey

Small Claims is a good option. This happened to me last year with a company I worked for (I'm a freelance runner in Film/TV). They didn't pay me for a days work I did for them 5 months previously so I called them and politely told them I would take the matter further and got paid the following week. I hope it works out for you, I really do. Too many people get taken advantage of

CKhalvashi

pedro606 wrote: »

There is no contract but that is normal in this sort of freelance make up work in LOndon. She has a rota of work etc. She invoices them for work done and is then paid about two weeks after invoiced.

This is very much not normal with freelance make-up work in London, trust me. In fact, none of this seems normal to either myself, or OH, and we've been doing various work in the creative industry for just under 10 years now.

He is a nasty piece of work. No explanaition as to why refuses to pay. Just doesnt reply to her by phone, email etc. He has history of this apparently. Not agreements on contract ending etc. As mentioned before she has copies of invoices that she has submitted to him.

If she's working on a rota, how solid is the work? It could be a case of she's employed, and he's claiming them as self-employed to get around NIC's. This could leave her in a difficult position should she need to claim state benefits for any reason.

All of our staff are on 500 hour yearly contracts (although in reality, it's closer to 2000-3000 hours), paid through PAYE. I don't know if it's because of the way we work (we do a lot of work with children, and the work is pretty much consistent throughout the year, as one area goes quiet, whilst the other goes busy), but if she's only working for one employer, full-time, unable to work for anyone else, then she certainly isn't freelance.

I can understand on the flip side, that she won't want to threaten him with HMRC, to proceed this side with caution, however if it is like the above, and she can survive without work from him, then he is committing tax fraud. Proceed with caution, and ask more questions if necessary.

CK

pinkshoes

Write a letter titled "letter before action", stating when she did the work, how much is owed, and giving him 14 days from receipt of letter to pay the money owed, otherwise she will start court preceedings to obtain the money owed.

Send TWO copies from TWO postoffices, obtaining proof of postage.

Or you could send it special delivery if you think he would sign for it.

pedro606

Thanks to everyone for that invaluable advice. I have discussed all this with my daughter. She is so worried about recriminations from this person.
However, if she wants the pay we'll have to go ahead with it.

Horrible situation for a young girl to be in. I am not in London to support her. Maybe I would make things worse if I do what I feel like doing!

I do appreciate your help and will keep you posted.
regards,

Peter