Pricing
Two fee lines, both agreed in writing before anything starts: a success fee on recovery, and an optional fixed monthly retainer if you want the monitoring handled continuously.
Fees
The initial portfolio audit is free. If we go on to pursue a claim and it does not succeed, there is no recovery fee. If it does succeed, our fee is deducted from the sum recovered before it reaches you.
No charge, and no obligation to instruct us afterwards.
A success fee of 35% of the sum recovered, plus VAT, deducted from the recovery itself. Nothing to pay if the claim does not succeed.
A fixed monthly retainer, scoped to portfolio size. Entirely optional.
Because the fee comes out of the recovery, it is taken from money that was not on your balance sheet before we started — sums already paid over and, in most cases, written off internally years ago. Every claim is subject to legal merits, evidence, limitation and formal case acceptance. Precise terms, including the basis of the fee, VAT treatment and how any disbursements are handled, are set out in the client engagement documentation and agreed with you in writing before any recovery work begins.
How it works
This is the part worth being clear about. We are not asking you to fund a speculative exercise out of a live development budget. The audit costs nothing. If a claim is pursued and fails, there is no recovery fee. If it succeeds, our fee comes out of the sum recovered before it reaches you — money that had already left your account years earlier and, in most cases, had been written off internally.
The success fee is 35% of the sum recovered, plus VAT. Interest for the period the money was held forms part of what is recovered, and is treated the same way.
Before anything starts
No fee arrangement takes effect until it is agreed with you in writing. The engagement documentation sets out the detail before recovery work begins.
Every claim is subject to legal merits, evidence, limitation and formal case acceptance. Nothing here is a guarantee of outcome.
Interest
On a contribution paid years ago, interest is frequently the larger half of the claim. How it is calculated — and whether it compounds — makes a material difference, so it is worth understanding the difference before anyone quotes you a figure.
Charged on the original sum only. The same amount is added every year, and accrued interest never itself earns interest. A contribution of £250,000 at 5% simple earns £12,500 a year, every year, regardless of how long it runs.
Interest is added to the balance at the end of each period, and the next period’s interest is charged on that larger balance. The same £250,000 at 5% compounded annually earns £12,500 in year one, £13,125 in year two, and £17,589 in year eight — because by then interest is running on £351,775 rather than £250,000.
The gap widens with time, which is exactly why it matters on historic obligations. Over eight years it is worth around £19,000 on a single contribution of this size. Across a portfolio of schemes, the compounding basis can be the difference that makes a claim worth bringing.
| £250,000 held for eight years at 5% | Simple | Compound | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | £262,500 | £262,500 | £0 |
| Year 2 | £275,000 | £275,625 | £625 |
| Year 3 | £287,500 | £289,406 | £1,906 |
| Year 4 | £300,000 | £303,877 | £3,877 |
| Year 5 | £312,500 | £319,070 | £6,570 |
| Year 6 | £325,000 | £335,024 | £10,024 |
| Year 7 | £337,500 | £351,775 | £14,275 |
| Year 8 | £350,000 | £369,364 | £19,364 |
Illustrative only. Figures are rounded, assume annual compounding and a constant 5% rate, and are used to show the mechanism — not to indicate the rate, period or outcome on any actual claim.
The basis matters — and it is not automatic
Which basis applies to your schemes depends on the wording of each agreement. Establishing that is part of the free audit, and we will tell you plainly where interest runs simple.
FAQs
The fee is 35% of the amount recovered, plus VAT, payable only on success. Exactly how it is calculated, when it becomes payable, and how disbursements are treated are set out in full in the engagement documentation before recovery work begins — so the position is agreed in writing rather than assumed.
There is no recovery fee. Any position on disbursements or third-party costs is set out in the engagement documentation before work starts, so you know where you stand before committing.
No. The audit is free, and there is no obligation to instruct us afterwards.
The retainer covers monitoring. If monitoring surfaces a claim, the 35% + VAT success fee applies to that recovery, and only if the claim succeeds. They are separate lines and both are set out in writing.
Book your free audit
A short, confidential conversation is enough to tell whether a full review is worth your time. No charge for the first-stage audit, and no obligation to instruct us afterwards.