Every week, the Money blog team answers a reader’s financial dilemma or consumer problem – email yours to moneyblog@sky.uk. Today’s is…

A neighbour has borrowed more than £1,000 from me with the promise to pay me back by the end of the month. Nothing has been forthcoming. I’ve sent her texts asking for her to let me know when she is putting it in to my account… no answer at all. What are my legal options?
Tony, via comments box

Thanks for your message, Tony – I wish I had a neighbour as generous as you.

From what you describe, there was an oral agreement here, which isn’t the best grounding to get your money back.

The neighbour might argue that there were no particular payment terms (so that the loan is not due by the end of the month) or even that there was no loan at all (that the money was instead a gift).

It would then be up to the court to decide on the evidence whether a loan existed and what its terms were.

I spoke to solicitor Alex Kennedy, a dispute resolution expert at Gannons, to get some firm guidance for you.

“Evidence of messages, bank payments etc are so important,” he says.

“If there are no documents at all, the person who is owed the money could still present their case, it is just the trial judge would be weighing their witness evidence against that of the borrower.”

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So what can you do now?

Kennedy says the most obvious legal route now is to send a formal letter before action to your neighbour, setting out:

• The amount owed;
• The basis of the debt (ie, the loan made and her agreement to repay by the end of the month);
• What steps you have already taken to request payment;
• A clear deadline (usually 14 days) for repayment before you take legal action.

This can be done by you or a solicitor and could well prompt your neighbour to cough up.

“Tony will need to bear in mind whether the relatively small value of the loan means that instructing a solicitor is a disproportionate expense, especially given that it is unusual to recover legal costs in respect of a small claim,” Kennedy says.

“If the cost of a solicitor is considered to be excessive, we would still recommend that the person who is owed the money drafts a letter before action themselves.”

If your neighbour is still not budging, there’s the option to issue a claim online via the Money Claim Online service or through the local county court.

The claim fee depends on the size of the debt (for £1,000-£1,500 it is currently £70 if issued online).

If successful, you will obtain a county court judgment.

Kennedy says your reader can enforce the judgment in several ways, including:

• Instructing bailiffs (county court or high court enforcement officers);
• Obtaining an attachment of earnings order (if she is employed);
• A charging order against property (if she owns her home).

“Interest and some legal costs can be claimed as part of proceedings, but as I have set out above, they may be limited given the value of the debt,” Kennedy says.

Of course, only you can decide whether taking any of these steps against someone you’ll be seeing all the time is the right way to go.

Good luck with it!

This feature is not intended as financial advice – the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.

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• Or email moneyblog@sky.uk with the subject line “Money Problem”

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced efforts to help its supply chain and a partial restart of operations following August’s crippling cyber attack.

The company said “qualifying” supplier companies would be eligible for early payments due to the disruption caused by the temporary shutdown of its factories over a month ago.

At the same time, it said the phased restart of its manufacturing sites would begin at its Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre and its Battery Assembly Centre in the West Midlands from Wednesday.

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“JLR colleagues will also begin to return on Wednesday to the company’s stamping operations in Castle Bromwich, Halewood and Solihull, UK, and other key areas of its Solihull vehicle production plant, such as its body shop, paint shop and its Logistics Operations Centre, which feeds parts to JLR’s global manufacturing sites,” a statement said.

The prospect of production staff getting back to work will come as a huge relief to workers and suppliers alike. The shutdown is currently into its sixth week, costing JLR at least £5m a day.

Companies which supply JLR both directly and indirectly have suffered, though the carmaker is understood to have met its financial commitments to all partners it deals with.

Firms further down the chain complained last week that they were yet to receive any support, despite the offer of a £1.5bn loan guarantee by the government.

JLR is believed to have not signed up to it on the grounds it has had sufficient funds to pay its way to date.

The new early payments scheme is only open to its main, so-called tier one, suppliers.

It is hoped that money will trickle down from them to their own customers who have, in many cases, laid off staff.

The carmaker said of the help now on offer to suppliers: “Qualifying JLR suppliers will be paid much faster than under their standard payment terms, aiding their cashflow in the near term.

“Following an initial phase with qualifying JLR suppliers critical to the restart of production, the scheme will be expanded, including to some non‑production suppliers.

“Working with a banking partner, this short‑term financing scheme means qualifying JLR suppliers will receive a majority prepayment shortly after the point of order and a final true‑up payment on receipt of invoice.

“JLR’s typical supplier payment terms are 60 days post invoice, so this scheme accelerates payments by as much as 120 days. JLR will reimburse the financing costs for those JLR suppliers who use the scheme during the restart phase, as the company returns to full production.”

JLR said that the non-production suppliers who could be offered help later included caterers and consultants.

JLR chief executive, Adrian Mardell, said: “This week marks an important moment for JLR and all our stakeholders as we now restart our manufacturing operations following the cyber incident.

“From tomorrow, we will welcome back our colleagues at our engine production plant in Wolverhampton, shortly followed by our colleagues making our world-class cars at Nitra and Solihull.

“Our suppliers are central to our success, and today we are launching a new financing arrangement that will enable us to pay our suppliers early, using the strength of our balance sheet to support their cashflows.

“I would like to thank everyone connected to JLR for their commitment, hard work and endeavour in recent weeks to bring us to this moment. We know there is much more to do but our recovery is firmly underway.”

Ineos, the chemicals group founded by Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has hit out at the government after cutting a fifth of the workforce at a factory in Hull.

The company said 60 skilled jobs were going at the Acetyls factory “as a direct result of sky-high energy costs and anti-competitive trade practices, as importers ‘dump’ product into the UK and European markets”.

It called on the UK government and European Commission to impose trade tariffs on China, complaining that a lack of action to date had resulted in “dirt cheap” carbon-heavy imports flooding the market, making its products uncompetitive.

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Ineos said the US had protected its manufacturing base through effective tariffs and warned that further jobs would be lost across Europe unless the authorities followed suit.

The company, founded by Sir Jim in 1998, is Europe’s largest producer of essential chemicals for a range of products including aspirin and paracetamol, adhesives and industrial coatings.

It recently invested £30m to switch its Hull plant energy source from natural gas to hydrogen. Ineos claimed Chinese competitors were emitting up to eight times more carbon dioxide than its UK operations.

“This is a textbook case of the UK and Europe sleepwalking into deindustrialisation,” the firm’s statement said.

“Ineos has invested heavily at Hull to cut CO₂, yet we’re being undercut by China and the US while left wide open by a complete absence of tariff protection.

“If governments don’t act now on energy, carbon and trade, we will keep losing factories, skills and jobs. And once these plants shut, they never come back.”

A Government spokesperson responded: “We know this is a tough time for our chemicals industry, who are paying the fossil fuel penalty, with wholesale gas costs remaining 75% above their levels before Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Our modern Industrial Strategy is slashing electricity costs by up to 25% for sectors including chemicals, and the UK’s independent Trade Remedies Authority has the power to investigate the impact of cheap imports if requested by industry.

“We recognise this will be difficult for affected workers and their families, and we continue to engage with Ineos and the wider sector to explore potential solutions that will ensure a viable chemicals industry in the UK.”