DP not been paid for two weeks work, what do we need to do?

[LEMisdisappointed]

My DP is a self employed carpenter. He did some work in the summer (omg talking about summer in past tense!) for a company via an agency (no problems here) and then did some work for them directly on a self employed basis. Work came to an end. He is owed just under 1K after tax. Was sent a cheque at the begining of august asked not to present until the 30th (we should have started chasing then but benefit of doubt and all that). Cheque bounced - we was told that there was some fraudulent activity on the companies account that was being investigated and the account frozen until last wednesday and that DP would be paid on friday. No cheque received, no BACs payment received and more worryingly, no contact despite DP texting company owner - couldnt contact office as no one there friday afternoons.

Thankfully we are in the rare position of this not being a major disaster (most of the time it would have been a nightmare) but even so, its very stressful, i suffer from anxiety disorder so its not helping!

I have left a message with the guy on his phone that we are running out of patience now and will be taking further action.

Will make appointment with CAB but these are rare as hens teeth around here so wont be straight away.

What I am asking is - what would be our likely route? I want to now write an email/letter to get things in writing but want to be clear what our next step will be. As we are not going to let this drop and want to be clear that we will take the appropriate action. DP read on a government website (not sure what one) that there are actions than can be taking via the courts that can be done online. It is a limited company that we are dealing with.

any advice, pointers to appropriate sites much appreciated

this would be my next step

Thanks Carole - i am going to write to them tomorrow and give them 7 days otherwise will go down that route x

If you do take legal action (Small Claims Court) you can sue on the bounced cheque alone (assuming it was for the full amount owed). Them sending you the cheque counts as them acknowledging the debt. That's the good news.

However getting a Judgment is one thing, enforcing it is another and if the company has gone into liquidation or similar you may be unable to enforce your judgment - don't delay too long.

Act quickly before they close the company. Hold onto the cheque as acknowledgement of the debt they owe you and as it will also have their bank details on it which will be useful if the judge grants you permission permission to take the money directly out of their account.

I was in a similar position a few year ago. The company posted me 2 cheques, both bounced and I then discovered they'd gone into liquidation (annoyingly just after I'd paid to do an online money claim). I was added to a list of creditors and eventually received all my money in full because the company was taken over and all debts paid off. I was lucky as this doesn't always happen; you often only get a % of the debt repaid. And if the company is wound up, you get nothing.

I'd do what you mention; chase vigorously and if no joy, file the money claim.

I should add that the money claim I did was a waste of money because they were in liquidation. But if they're not and you do get a CCJ against them, this doesn't automatically mean you'll get the money, you may have to go through another court process to get this. You can apply for a 'winding up' order which forces a limited company into liquidation unless they pay, but tbh if they are dodgy, they won't care. They'll just fold to get escape the debt and start up again under a new name.