Nobody takes a freelance job expecting to chase the money. The work gets delivered, the invoice goes out, the due date arrives, and then nothing happens. No refusal, no dispute, just silence. Late payment rarely looks like a fight. It looks like a queue nobody told you about.

That is the pattern consultants describe on both sides of the Atlantic, and it is a different problem from the client who simply refuses to pay. It is the delay that travels, from the company that eventually gets the work, to the agency in the middle, to the person who actually did it.

Net 45 on paper, almost 120 in the bank

Lisa Horwich, B2B market research consultant at Pallas Research Associates, sits on the board of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA), where, she says, the gap between payment terms and actual payments is a standing topic of conversation. Her own experience is mostly uneventful.

«Personally I usually get paid within the scope of my Statement of Work, either 30 or 45 days», says Lisa Horwich.

Mostly. Then there was the exception.

«I have had a situation where it was a 45 day payment terms and I didn’t get paid until almost 120 days. Supposedly the end client was a slow payer (I was working through an agency) which shouldn’t matter for consultants and experts like myself», she says.

The arithmetic is simple and unkind: almost 120 days against 45 agreed, more than two and a half times the contractual term. And her last sentence is the one worth underlining. In a well written contract it should not matter who the end client is. In practice, it does.

When the delay travels down the chain

The mechanism is easy to picture even without a single statistic. A freelancer works for an agency, the agency works for a client, and when the client pays late the cash flow problem lands on whoever sits at the end of the line. That is usually the individual, the one person in the chain without a finance department, a credit line or a legal team to send a reminder with some weight behind it.

It is also why the same name keeps coming up in the same conversations.

«Most consultants will bill 50% up front, some will refuse to start the project until that payment is received, and most will regret accepting the work because the balance will not be paid in a timely manner», says Lisa Horwich.

What one consultant changed

Horwich did not stop working with the agency. She changed the terms of the relationship.

«What I’ve changed with that agency is they are way lower on my priority for accepting work and, if I do take on a project with them, I expect 50% up front», she says.

Two decisions, both made before the next invoice rather than after it: the client moves down the list, and the risk moves up front. It is a small piece of policy, but it is the part that was entirely in her hands.

The industry side of the story is less quiet. According to Horwich, many members of her association have had the same problem with a different, well known company, and the association has acted on it.

«As an association, we have banned that company from sponsoring our conferences because they are violating our code of ethics and harming our members», says Lisa Horwich.

What the law gives you, and where it stops

Until recently, a US freelancer’s main protection was the contract they wrote themselves. That is changing, state by state. New York City led the way in 2017, and Freelancers Union says its law has helped freelancers recover more than $2.5 million. Minneapolis, Seattle and Los Angeles followed with ordinances of their own. Illinois joined on July 1, 2024, with a statewide Freelance Worker Protection Act-, New York State on August 28, 2024 and California on January 1, 2025. The common thread: a written contract, a payment date, and a default of 30 days after the work is completed when the contract says nothing.

WHERE PAYMENT DEADLINE WHAT YOU CAN CLAIM
New York State (from Aug 28, 2024) Contract date, or 30 days after completion. Applies to $800 or more within 120 days Double damages plus attorney’s fees
Illinois (from July 1, 2024) 30 days unless the written contract says otherwise. Applies to $500 or more within 120 days Double damages plus costs and attorney’s fees
California (from Jan 1, 2025) Contract date, or 30 days after completion. Applies to $250 or more Up to double the unpaid amount, plus attorney’s fees
United Kingdom Agreed term, 30 days by default (Late Payment Act 1998) Interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed £40, £70 or £100 depending on the debt
European Union 30 days by default, up to 60 unless expressly agreed and not grossly unfair ECB reference rate plus 8 points, plus a minimum €40

Two caveats. These US laws cover individuals and sole proprietors hired as independent contractors, with exclusions that vary by state, so the first check is whether your work and your state qualify. And a deadline in the law does not collect an invoice for you: it gives you a stronger hand once you decide to use it.

The UK is in the middle of a bigger change. A Commercial Payments Bill was introduced in the House of Lords in May 2026, cleared its second reading unopposed in June and went through committee stage in July-. It would cap payment terms on qualifying business to business contracts at 60 days and give the Small Business Commissioner power to adjudicate disputes and impose financial penalties. It is not law yet, and implementation is not expected before 2027.

How to write a contract that survives a slow client

None of this replaces the contract. Horwich’s experience points to four habits that cost nothing to adopt.

  • Put the due date in writing. “Net 30” or “net 45” means payment is due that many days after the invoice date, and in New York, Illinois and California the law expects a written contract with a payment date anyway.
  • Ask for part of it up front. Half the fee at the start is, by Horwich’s account, standard practice among her peers, and some refuse to begin work without it.
  • Know who actually pays. If an agency sits between you and the end client, the end client’s habits become your problem. Ask what the payment terms are on their side, not just on yours.
  • Decide your limit in advance. Moving a late paying client down the list is easier when the rule was already there before the invoice went overdue.

This is general information, not legal advice. For a large unpaid invoice, a lawyer licensed where you work is worth the hour.

Frequently asked questions

What does “net 30” or “net 45” mean?

  • Payment is due within 30 or 45 days of the invoice date. It is the agreed term, which is not the same as the date the money actually arrives.

Are US freelancers legally protected against late payment?

  • In some places, yes. New York City, New York State, Illinois and California have freelancer laws that require a written contract and set a default payment deadline of 30 days after the work is done. Many other states do not, so the contract is the main protection.

Can freelancers charge interest on a late invoice?

  • In the UK and the EU the law provides statutory interest on late commercial payments. In the US the clearest route is a late fee or interest clause written into the contract, and what else is available depends on the state.

How much should freelancers ask for up front?

  • There is no legal rule. In Horwich’s field, billing 50% before starting is the usual approach.

Prefer this in Italian? We ran the same story, with a focus on Italian rules on unpaid invoices, in the Italian version of this article-.