by Katherine Wells

Created on: March 22, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

It's an unfortunate fact of life that freelance workers are always at the bottom of the pile when it comes to payment, it would be great if we could all command money upfront but unfortunately this is rarely possible in this hugely competitive market.

Here are my top tips for handling slow and non-paying clients.

Terms and conditions.

Write a document containing your 'terms and conditions' and send this to every new client before embarking on a job. It is fine to send this document by email, just so long as you state that if they commission work from you this indicates that they have read, understood and agree to these terms and conditions.

It is also a good idea to publish these terms and conditions on your website, this way you can put a 'reminder' link to these in an email every time the client comissions a new piece of work.

In your terms and conditions clearly outline:

1. Your invoicing procedure.
When will you invoice? On completion of the job or at the end of the month? How will you send the invoice, by email or post?

2. The payment terms of your invoices.
Will payment be required within 7, 14, or 30 days of invoice date? What action will take if monies are not paid on time (interest charges etc.).

3. Other issues.
It is always a good idea to include other issues such as such as copyright, and what your obligations to the client are. If you make the terms and conditions appear to be as much for the client's benefit as yours, they are more likely to accept these conditions without quibbling.

Invoicing

1. Be sure to send your invoices on time.
If your terms and conditions state that you will invoice when the work is completed, send your invoice along with the completed piece of work. If you say you will invoice on the last day of the month, make sure you do invoice on the last day of the month. Stick to your part of the deal for nobody likes to get an unexpected invoice - if you don't invoice on time, you are less likely to get paid on time.

2. Restate the terms of payment clearly on the invoice.
In November 1998, legislation was passed in the UK to protect small businesses (including freelance workers) from late payment by giving them a statutory right to claim interest. Further details of this legislation can be found here:

http://www.payontime.co.uk/legislation/legislat ion_main.html

This site also has an interest calculator to help you determine how much interest you can charge.

Put the following footer on all your invoices to show that you are aware of this law and will

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