Contractor - Owed Money :(
Discussion
So in October 2016 I took a position with a start up, based in the UK. The long and short of it is that the project stalled, and the principal who employed me has ceased to respond to calls/emails. Predictably, I haven't been paid - I have 4 invoices outstanding for a mix of personal expense incurred on behalf of the company, and consultancy fees. The individual invoices are all reasonably small, but the total i'm owed is a shade over £10,000. All the invoices are overdue for payment and are from my own limited company (IE i'm not a sole trader). The last communication I had from the principle was at the beginning of December.
At the same time there is at least one other company that hasn't been paid (the recruitment agent that placed me and some other employees), who has a claim higher than me. Exact amount isn't known by me, but has been confirmed to be over the small claims court limit of £10k)
What's the best way to approach this? Submit individual claims for each invoice which are all underneath the SCC threshold, or go for all three as one claim? Also what's the best way of ensuring that I get paid, knowing that someone else is after money as well? Lastly, my contract is with a company which (effectively) doesn't exist, it had been clarified verbally that the company I was contracted to was part of a "doing business as" arrangement. The address provided for my contract is a generic office, though the "other" company does exist (allbeit at a different address but lists the sole director as the principal).
Of course there may not be any assets within the business, or any money to clear the debt...but I guess no way to find that one out!
At the same time there is at least one other company that hasn't been paid (the recruitment agent that placed me and some other employees), who has a claim higher than me. Exact amount isn't known by me, but has been confirmed to be over the small claims court limit of £10k)
What's the best way to approach this? Submit individual claims for each invoice which are all underneath the SCC threshold, or go for all three as one claim? Also what's the best way of ensuring that I get paid, knowing that someone else is after money as well? Lastly, my contract is with a company which (effectively) doesn't exist, it had been clarified verbally that the company I was contracted to was part of a "doing business as" arrangement. The address provided for my contract is a generic office, though the "other" company does exist (allbeit at a different address but lists the sole director as the principal).
Of course there may not be any assets within the business, or any money to clear the debt...but I guess no way to find that one out!
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