I strongly think freelancers should be entitled to charge an extra hourly fee on top of their contracted work for admin related to getting paid. It can add hours of labour (or even days if there are conditions to be negotiated). Universities etc have full time staff to do this. Freelancers don’t.
Reposted from
Sam Leith
Today, in fun things to do that just take a moment of your time: trying to get paid a modest speaker's fee from a university. As a bureaucratic project, it's up there with obtaining a visa for North Korea and getting the BBC to pay VAT.
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I do wonder whether the university payment process is deliberately designed to dissuade departments from hiring freelancers/guest speakers? It’s the admin version of waterboarding
You can charge a £40 fixed penalty on debts of under £1,000 plus interest at 8% above BoE base
I think @alexvont.bsky.social suggestion is such a good one. (Wonder what the legality would be of including it on invoices?)
And thanks for raising this issue btw. Good to know I wasn’t alone.
As far as I am aware you can in your invoice, just as companies charge for reminder letters on debt. The problem is the power difference means good luck get it paid without a court case.
*Payment terms are 14 days. Please be aware that according to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, freelancers are entitled to claim a £40.00 late fee upon non-payment of debts after this time, at which point +
Would be worth checking in on the law as this info is a few years old, but it sure as hell hasn't been revoked, far as I know.
WTAF