Response of a laterally loaded pile passing through multi-layered soil strata is majorly governed by complex soil-pile interactions occurring along the length of the pile. In the present study, lateral response of a single pile embedded in a medium dense to dense sand bed overlain by a clay layer is analysed by Finite Element (FE) method. Pile head deflection and depth of fixity of a laterally loaded pile largely depends on the properties and thickness of the overlying strata. It is a conventional practice to represent the soil strata using elastic-perfectly plastic Mohr–Coulomb (M-C) model, mainly due to ease of incorporating the shear strength parameters. However, M-C model assumes that the stiffness parameters are independent of the stress-levels and hence, it cannot exhibit the change in plastic strains while unloading. Alternatively, the strain hardening of soils upon loading is suitably represented by hardening soil (HS) model. The time-dependent compression of very soft soils can be suitably represented by soft soil creep (SSC) model that relates the volumetric strain to the mean effective stress. In the present study, the overlying clay layer is represented by each of the above constitutive models, and their influence on the response of the laterally loaded pile is investigated. The noticeable differences in pile head deflections and the stress-deformation (p-y) curves indicate that M-C model might not always be the correct choice to represent soft clayey layer. Additionally, thickness of the overlying clay layer is altered to study the effects of layer thickness on the lateral pile responses. Results show that lateral deflection and depth of fixity of the pile vary with any change in the thickness of the clay stratum; the same are influenced by the chosen constitutive model as well.