As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly recover an unpaid business invoice.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the invoice, contract, purchase order and your accounting record, then gather the delivery, completion and acceptance evidence.
   2. Create one document containing the customer details, invoice number, dates, amount, payment history and every relevant email or message in date order.
   3. Paste the gathered material into the prompt, replacing each bracketed slot and removing unrelated personal data.
   4. Ask the chatbot to identify missing facts and contradictions before it drafts the payment reminder and any letter before action.
   5. Compare every name, date, amount, term and statement in the drafts against the original invoice, contract and correspondence, and remove anything unsupported.
   6. Check the proposed recovery route against current GOV.UK guidance and send only the suitable payment reminder after a solicitor has checked any disputed, high-value or legally complex matter.
   7. Keep a copy of the final message, evidence and proof of sending, then ask a solicitor about the next step if payment is not made or the customer disputes the debt.

   Prompt

   I need help recovering an unpaid business invoice in England and Wales. This is not professional advice, so do not present legal conclusions as certain and tell me when a UK solicitor should check the matter.
   
   Use only the facts I provide. Do not invent dates, contract terms, delivery evidence, interest, fees, deadlines or admissions. First identify missing facts and contradictions. Then produce:
   
   1. A factual summary of the debt and the evidence supporting it.
   2. A practical recovery plan in stages, starting with a professional payment reminder and explaining when specialist legal help may be needed.
   3. A draft payment reminder that states the invoice number, amount, due date and requested payment date using bracketed blanks for anything missing. Keep it firm and non-threatening.
   4. If the evidence and contractual position appear sufficient, a separate draft letter before action with every uncertain legal or factual point clearly marked for solicitor review. Do not claim that court action, interest or recovery costs are available unless the supplied contract or an identified current GOV.UK source supports that point.
   5. A checklist of documents and facts I should verify before sending anything.
   6. A short list of questions for a solicitor if the customer disputes the invoice, alleges defective work, is insolvent or has stopped responding.
   
   Business and invoice details:
   - Business name: [business name]
   - Customer name and address: [customer name and address]
   - Invoice number: [invoice number]
   - Invoice date: [invoice date]
   - Due date: [due date]
   - Amount and currency: [amount and currency]
   - Contract, purchase order or agreed terms: [paste relevant terms]
   - Goods or services supplied: [description]
   - Delivery or completion evidence: [evidence]
   - Payment already received: [amount and date]
   - Correspondence and disputes: [paste relevant messages]
   - Desired outcome and any commercial constraints: [details]
   
   Use plain UK English. Keep the drafts separate from your analysis. Make no threats, do not contact anyone, and do not say that a court judgment or enforcement is guaranteed.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.