Debt collection · United Kingdom
Letter of claim — the last step before a court claim
A business has to send this before it can take you to county court over a debt. What it hands you is thirty days and a form. Return the form and the matter stays out of court; ignore it and a claim can be issued on day thirty-one.
How serious: needs actionAlso called: letter before claim, letter before action, LBA, pre-action letter
The Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims fixes what this letter must say: the amount, whether interest is still running, how the agreement arose, and — if the debt was sold on — who the original creditor was and when it changed hands.
It must arrive with three things: an Information Sheet, a Reply Form and a Financial Statement form. The Reply Form is the whole procedure; it has boxes for owing all of it, part of it or none of it, for asking for documents, for asking for time to pay and for saying that debt advice is being sought.
None of this is a court document and nothing has been decided. It is the step a creditor must take before it is allowed to issue a claim.
Who sends it
A business claiming a debt from an individual — a lender, a utility, a landlord, a debt purchaser, or the solicitors or collection agents writing for one. The protocol does not apply to business-to-business debts unless the debtor is a sole trader.
A dated letter with the amount, a statement of account, and three enclosures headed Information Sheet, Reply Form and Financial Statement. The Information Sheet opens: 'You have received this notice because a business intends to take you to court in relation to a debt.'
The deadline
30 days from the date at the top of the letter
Thirty days from the date printed at the top of the letter. Paragraph 3.4 of the protocol allows the creditor to start proceedings if the debtor has not replied within that time, and paragraph 3.2 requires the letter to be clearly dated near the top of the first page and posted that day or the next — so the printed date is where the count starts.
If you do nothing
After thirty days the creditor may issue a county court claim, subject to any other obligation it owes — for instance under the Financial Conduct Authority's Handbook. The protocol asks creditors to allow for a reply posted towards the end of the period, but that is their discretion, not your right.
Compute your date
The rule above is what the law sets. Put in the dates on your own letter and it becomes a date.
How it escalates
- 01The creditor may start a county court claim once the thirty days have run (Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, para 3.4).
- 02A claim form arrives with a far shorter deadline, and an unanswered claim ends in a county court judgment.
- 03A judgment is registered and enforceable — by an enforcement agent, an attachment of earnings order or a charging order.
- 04The court takes non-compliance with the protocol into account when it gives directions, on both sides (para 7.1).
How to respond
The procedure is the Reply Form: which boxes, what to enclose, where it goes and by when. Whether the debt is right is a separate question, and not one this page answers.
Response types
- Ask for documentsReply Form with a request for documents or information (para 4.1, 5.2) · Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, paras 4.1 and 5.2 · Reply Form at Annex 1 to the protocol
- Say the debt is not agreedReply Form marked to say the debt, or part of it, is not agreed · Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, paras 4.1 and 5.1 · Reply Form at Annex 1 to the protocol
- Ask for time to payReply Form asking for time to pay, with the Financial Statement · Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, para 4.4 · Reply Form and the Standard Financial Statement at Annex 2
- Say you are getting debt adviceReply Form indicating that debt advice is being sought · Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, paras 4.2 and 4.3 · Reply Form at Annex 1
- Pay, or show a payment madePayment, or a record of a payment already made
Where and how
- Royal Mail Signed For or Special Delivery to the address the letter gives for the Reply Form — proof of both the sending and the arrival.
- Ordinary post to that same address, which proves neither.
- Email, only to an address the letter itself offers for replies; keep the sent message.
- The creditor's own reply portal, where the letter names one; save the confirmation and reference.
What to attach
- The completed Reply Form from Annex 1.
- The Financial Statement, where time to pay is being asked for.
- Copies of anything relevant you hold — records of payments not taken into account, for example.
- A copy of the letter of claim, for your own file.
What makes it count
A reply counts when the creditor has it within thirty days of the date at the top of the letter, at the address given for the Reply Form. Send it so the date can be proved.
Common questions
What happens if I return the Reply Form?
The creditor should not start proceedings for at least thirty days from receiving it — or thirty days from providing any documents you asked for, whichever is later (para 4.2). Where you have replied but no agreement is reached, it should give you at least fourteen days' notice of intending to issue (para 8.2).
Do I have to use their form?
The protocol says the debtor should use the Reply Form at Annex 1, and it is the document the creditor is set up to read. A partially completed form is still treated as engagement, and the creditor should contact you to fill the gaps (para 4.5).
I asked for the credit agreement and heard nothing.
Where you request a document or information, the creditor must provide it or explain why it is unavailable within thirty days (para 5.2), and should not start proceedings for thirty days after providing it.
Does this apply to a tax debt?
No. The protocol does not apply to claims by HM Revenue and Customs governed by Practice Direction 7D, nor where another protocol covers the debt, such as mortgage arrears (para 1.4).
Sources
Facts verified against the sources below on 10 September 2026.