Larger customer ignoring your invoice? How the Small Business Commissioner can help

If a bigger customer is ignoring your unpaid invoice, there is a free public service that may be able to help. The Office of the Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) says its enquiry service helped small businesses recover more than £1.5 million in overdue payments in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, the highest figure in over 5 years.

Here is what the Commissioner does, who it is for, and how it fits with your own chasing.

What the Small Business Commissioner is

The OSBC describes itself as an independent public body set up by Government under the Enterprise Act 2016 to tackle late payment and unfavourable payment practices in the private sector. It covers the whole of the UK.

Who it can help

The OSBC says that if you run a small business in the UK and have an unresolved payment dispute with a larger customer, which you have been unable to resolve, it may be able to help. In its FAQs it defines:

• a small business as any firm with fewer than 50 employees
• a larger business as any firm with more than 50 employees

The service is free and confidential, according to the OSBC.

What it can do

The OSBC says that where you have tried to resolve the debt yourself without success, it may be able to investigate the dispute and make recommendations to resolve it. If it cannot investigate, it says it will do as much as it can to help you resolve the situation.

It also says it aims to resolve disputes amicably and protect the trading relationship between businesses. If you are worried about being identified as the business making the complaint, the OSBC says there are some actions it can take to support you, although that may limit how much it can do.

Before you contact the OSBC

The OSBC's own guidance on unpaid invoices suggests steps you can take first, including:

1. Check the payment terms. Go back over the invoice and contract to confirm the terms and due date, and check the invoice for errors. Our guide to invoice payment terms explains what to agree. 2. Send a polite reminder with the invoice details, amount, due date and payment instructions. 3. Contact the customer directly if there is no response. 4. Resend the invoice if they say they never received it. 5. Remind them about statutory interest and compensation. See our guide to late payment interest, or check what you are owed for free.

Our checklist on what to do first when an invoice is overdue covers the same ground step by step.

A note on disputed invoices

The OSBC's FAQs say you cannot claim interest or compensation on an invoice that has been legitimately disputed by the customer. If you think a dispute is unreasonable, or is taking an unreasonable amount of time to resolve, the OSBC says it may be able to investigate your complaint.

What may change

The Commercial Payments Bill would give the Small Business Commissioner new powers. It is still going through Parliament. Our post on the Bill clearing the Lords explains where it stands.

This post is general information, not legal advice about your situation.

How InvoiceCollect helps

InvoiceCollect chases limited companies and LLPs in England and Wales. It chases the debtor company for 4 weeks by email and text on working days, never more than once a day, plus a posted letter to their registered office. Interest and compensation are added where the legal conditions are met, never on a genuinely disputed invoice. Your customer pays you directly and there is no commission. We are not a law firm. Start your chase.

Sources: Small Business Commissioner, £1.5 million recovered for small businesses (16 October 2026); Small Business Commissioner, homepage; Small Business Commissioner, Make an enquiry; Small Business Commissioner, FAQs; Small Business Commissioner, Help with unpaid invoices; [UK Parliament, Commercial Payments Bill [HL]](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4128).