What does a Pay Less Notice look like?
A written notice that states the sum the payer considers due at the date of the notice and the basis on which that sum is calculated, served inside the contract's window.
Updated: 15 September 2026. By Jack Butler-Kettle, Quantity Surveyor & Claims Consultant.
The answer
There is no prescribed form. A Pay Less Notice is any written notice, however headed, that states the sum the payer considers to be due at the date the notice is given and the basis on which that sum has been calculated, and that reaches the payee before the last date the contract allows for it. In practice that means a heading or first line that says what the document is, the application or payment cycle it answers, the gross value the payer accepts, each deduction with a one-line reason and a figure, the resulting sum, the date, and the name of the person the contract authorises to give it. A bare figure with no basis, or a notice served a day late, is the usual reason one fails. Keep a copy of what was sent, to whom, by which route and when, because the notice's effect turns on those facts as much as its contents.
Example
The situation
A payer receives an application for £180,000 and considers £164,000 due. Two forms of response are possible: a notice that states a sum and a basis, and a letter that simply rejects the application.
What happens
- The notice states that the payer considers £164,000 due at the stated date, calculated as £180,000 applied less £11,000 for measured work not yet complete at item 3.4 and £5,000 for the contra-charge notified earlier.
- That notice gives a sum and a basis.
- A letter that says only that the application is not accepted gives neither.
The notice in figures
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Applied | £180,000 |
| Less measured work not yet complete at item 3.4 | £11,000 |
| Less the contra-charge notified | £5,000 |
| Sum considered due | £164,000 |
The outcome
The notice with the sum and the basis can operate as a Pay Less Notice; the letter that gives neither is unlikely to.
The Pay Less Notice template sets the sum, basis and dates out in that order.