Payment reminder email templates for UK businesses: four stages with wording

What every reminder should contain

• The invoice number and date, and the amount still outstanding after any part payments.
• The original due date and how many days overdue it is.
• The work or purchase order it relates to.
• Your bank details and the reference to quote.
• One named contact and an easy way to reply.

Reminder 1: the day after the due date

Most late invoices are oversights, so the tone is a polite check rather than a demand.

Subject: Invoice INV-1042, payment status

Message: Hello Sam, invoice INV-1042 for £2,450.00 was due on 3 October and we have not yet seen payment. Could you check it with your accounts team? Our bank details and the reference to quote are below. If payment is already on its way, please ignore this message. Thank you, [Name], [Company]

Reminder 2: about a week later

Subject: Invoice INV-1042 is now 7 days overdue

Message: Hello Sam, following our note last week, invoice INV-1042 for £2,450.00 remains unpaid and is now 7 days overdue. Please let us know the date we can expect payment, or tell us if anything on the invoice needs checking so we can put it right quickly.

Reminder 3: state the interest as information

Between businesses, a factual line about interest frames the delay as a cost without adding anything to the invoice ^[1][2]. If your contract sets its own late payment rate, that rate generally applies instead ^[1].

Subject: Invoice INV-1042 is 21 days overdue

Message: Hello Sam, invoice INV-1042 for £2,450.00 is now 21 days overdue. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, interest accrues on commercial debts at 8% above the Bank of England reference rate, 11.75% for debts overdue in 2026, which is about 79p a day on this invoice, and fixed compensation of £70 applies to an invoice of this size. We have not added either to the invoice, but we would like to settle it by [date]. Please reply with the payment date or any point you would like to discuss.

Reminder 4: the last one before you escalate

Subject: Final reminder, invoice INV-1042

Message: Hello Sam, invoice INV-1042 for £2,450.00 is now 35 days overdue. If there is anything on the invoice in dispute, please tell us today so that we can resolve it. Otherwise we would be grateful for payment, or a written payment date, by [date].

After a final reminder the usual options are a call to the accounts contact or a formal claim. GOV.UK sets out the routes for recovering commercial debts ^[4].

Private customers need different wording

The Act covers commercial debts only, so leave interest and compensation out of reminders to homeowners and other consumers ^[2]. Nemexio sends private customers at most three reminders, at least ten days apart, by email only and with no interest or fees.

What to leave out

• Threats of action you do not intend to take.
• Fees or charges that are not in your written terms.
• Emotional language about how late payment affects you.
• Contacting anyone other than the customer's accounts contact.
• The original invoice total when part has already been paid.

Let Nemexio send them

Nemexio sends this kind of sequence automatically, in your company's name, each weekday morning, and stops as soon as the payment appears in your accounting software or you mark the invoice paid. You approve the wording and the gap between reminders once.