Email script

Asking for a fee cap

An email proposing a ceiling on a percentage fee, with the reasons a business can give and the alternatives it can offer if the answer is no.

This wording is a starting point, not legal advice. Check your contract before you send it, and take advice if you are unsure.

Download .docxNo sign up. The file carries the same disclaimer and the publisher line.

Subject: Our engagement: proposing a cap on the fee

Dear [adviser name], Thank you for setting out how the fee is worked out. We would like to go ahead on one change: a cap on the fee. Our reasoning is that the work involved in preparing the claim does not rise in step with the size of the claim. A larger claim this year would mostly reflect [reason, for example a larger project already under way], not more work on the claim itself. We propose a cap of [figure] per claim, with the percentage unchanged below that figure. If a cap is not something you can offer, we would consider instead a lower percentage on the part of the claim above [threshold], or a fee calculated on the credit we actually receive rather than the amount filed. Could you let us know which of these you can agree to, so we can have it written into the engagement letter before we sign? Kind regards, [your name] [your role] [business name]

Replace the highlighted [placeholders] with your own details before you send it.

Before you send

Decide the figure first. A cap is easiest to agree when it is a number you would be content to pay in a good year, not a number designed to cut the fee in an ordinary one. Work it out on the fee comparison calculator at the largest claim you can imagine. If the adviser declines a cap, the fallback asks are a lower percentage above a threshold, or a fee on the amount received rather than the amount claimed, so the fee at least follows the result.

Before you send

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