The money lands eleven weeks after you delivered.
Walk that backwards and the interesting part is not the eleven weeks. It is that nothing you did after delivery changed the number. The polite chase, the second polite chase, the invoice resent as a PDF: none of it moved anything, because the delay was set before you switched the camera on.
The purchase order is the hinge
In any UK company past a certain size, the person who commissions a video and the person who pays for it work in different systems and often have never spoken.
Your contact in marketing wants the content. Accounts payable pays invoices that match something already in their system. The thing that puts you in their system is a purchase order, and it is raised by your contact, in advance, as an internal request.
What it actually is
A PO is the company saying to itself, in writing, that this spend is approved and this supplier is expected. It carries a number, an amount and usually a description.
When your invoice arrives quoting that number, it matches an open commitment and moves. When it arrives without one, there is nothing for it to match, so it sits. Nobody rejects it, which is why you hear nothing.
Why it has to exist first
A PO raised after the work is a correction, and corrections need approval from someone more senior than the person who forgot. That is where weeks go.
So the question to ask before you shoot, in the same message where you confirm the dates, is simply: do you need a PO number for this, and can you send it to me before we start? Half your clients will say no, we are small, just invoice us. The other half will thank you, because you have reminded them of something that was about to cost them an awkward conversation.
The second gate nobody warns you about
Being approved and being a supplier are two different states, and you need both.
Before finance can send money anywhere, you have to exist as a payee in their system. That means a supplier form, sometimes a portal with its own login, asking for your business and bank details and occasionally proof of insurance. A sole trader trading under their own name fills it in exactly as that: the form assumes a company because most suppliers are one, and saying so plainly is the correct answer.
Ask for that form the day you agree the job, not the day you invoice. Onboarding a new supplier can take longer than the payment terms, and it runs in parallel with the shoot for free.
Where invoices actually get stuck
| What you observe | What it usually means | What unblocks it |
|---|---|---|
| No reply at all, weeks of silence | The invoice never entered the system, most often for want of a PO number | Ask your contact for the PO, then resend quoting it |
| Your contact says it is approved | Approved by them, not necessarily received by finance | Ask for the accounts payable address and send it there directly |
| It was paid, but partially | The invoice exceeded the value on the PO | The PO needs raising again, which your contact must do |
| Paid a month later than agreed | It missed the monthly payment run | Ask when their run falls and send ahead of it next time |
| Finance says you are not set up | You are not on the supplier list yet | Ask for the supplier onboarding form, which is usually bank details and your business details |
Read that middle column and notice how little of it is anyone refusing to pay you. Almost every delay in this list is plumbing, and plumbing is fixable by asking a specific question of a specific person.
When it really is late
Payment terms are set by the client's standard, not by your invoice, and in larger companies they are measured in weeks. That is worth knowing before you agree to something rather than after, because a date you agreed to is not a late payment.
When a payment is genuinely overdue, businesses in the UK have a statutory right to claim interest and recovery costs on late commercial debts. The current position is on GOV.UK and it changes, so check there rather than trusting any figure you read in a forum, including this article.
You will rarely need to use it. Mentioning that you are aware of it, once, in a calm sentence, changes the tone of a chase more than three reminders do.
Three lines in the first email
Confirm the fee, the delivery date and the payment terms in the message where you accept the job. Ask whether a PO is needed. Ask for the accounts payable email address so the invoice goes to the right place first time.
Those three lines cost you nothing and remove the two most common causes of a long wait. As a sole trader you are the whole finance department, and this is the part of the job that is actually finance.
Keep reading
- UGC Creators in Manchester
- What to Charge for UGC in the UK
- VAT for UGC Creators in the UK
- UGC in the UK: Agency or Direct?
- The complete UGC guide for the UK
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Frequently asked questions
What is a purchase order and do I always need one?
It is an internal approval carrying a number that lets finance match your invoice to an approved spend. Smaller clients often do not use them. Larger ones nearly always do, and without the number the invoice cannot enter their system.
My invoice has had no reply for weeks. What now?
Assume plumbing rather than refusal. Ask your contact whether a PO exists, get the accounts payable address, and resend quoting the number. That resolves most cases.
Can I charge interest on a late payment?
Businesses have a statutory right to claim interest and recovery costs on overdue commercial debts. Check the current rules on GOV.UK, because the amounts change.
Should I ask for a deposit?
It is reasonable, especially with a new client, and it also tests the payment route early. If a small first payment takes six weeks, you have learned something useful before the full fee is at stake.
Sources
Checked on 27 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.