Uncategorised

Late payments hit three year high

Posted on

26th October 2023 Late payments hit three year high Small businesses in the UK are facing a worsening late payment crisis, with payment times hitting a three-year high. According to Xero’s quarterly small business index, small firms are waiting an average of 29.4 days to be paid by their customers, with payments in September being made 7.7 days after the due date. The manufacturing sector has been the worst affected, with payments made 10.1 days late on average. Industry leaders are calling on the Government to take action and help […]

Uncategorised

Hunt urged to tackle  later payers

Posted on
parliament

23rd October 2023 Hunt urged to tackle  later payers The Federation of Small Businesses is calling on the Chancellor to pressure large companies to pay smaller suppliers on time, with the body’s chairman Martin McTague describing late payments as “pernicious” for his members. He also called for an extension on the 75% discount on business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses and to end the “simple flaw” in the tax system that prevents the self-employed deducting training costs from their tax bills. Meanwhile, the British Chambers of Commerce has […]

Uncategorised

Insolvencies predicted to rise

Posted on

Insolvencies predicted to rise 20th October 2023 Allianz Trade predicts in its latest report  that UK business insolvencies in the UK will reach about 30% above pre-pandemic levels by 2025, with almost 30,000 insolvencies predicted for 2024 and 2025. The rise in insolvencies is driven by the hospitality, trade, and manufacturing sectors, contributing to an estimated increase of 16% in 2023, or 3,900 additional insolvencies. In fact all sectors having largely surpassed 2019 insolvency levels, the resilience of UK businesses has been strained by  the successive shocks and challenges that […]

Uncategorised

EU proposes tightening of Late payment regime

Posted on

EU proposes tightening of Late payment regime 13 October 2023. The EU is proposing tightening up it’s late payment regime. Although the new regulations won’t apply in the UK, it is interesting for comparisons sake compared with the UK governments inaction. Key points 1) They propose replacing the current directive (which each state must legislate to apply locally – as the UK did with the The Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013 in response to the Late Payment Directive (2011/7/EU) ) with EU regulation which applies equally across the EU. […]

Uncategorised

New late payment measures fail to excite

Posted on

New late payment measures fail to excite James Salmon, Operations Director – 12th October 2023. While I was away on leave, the government announced “new” measures to tackle the late payment culture that is holding back small businesses and the economy. These new measures are set to be part of the Prompt Payment & Cash Flow Review, that is due to be published in the near future. The “new” measures set to be announced within the review are: Extending the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017. Following consultation, […]

Uncategorised

MPs want a crackdown on late payments

Posted on

James Salmon, Operations Director 1 September 2023 . MPs want a crackdown on late payments A new YouGov survey shows most MPs want tougher measures to crack down on late payments. The survey commissioned by the UK’s largest accountancy bodies – the Association of Accounting Technicians and the Association of Chartered Accountants – recently found that two-thirds of MPs think the Prompt Payment Code should be made compulsory for organisations with over 250 employees. The code is voluntary and Federation of Small Businesses research found that in every quarter in […]

Legislation

Legislation fails to speed up payments

Posted on
parliament

Legislation fails to speed up payments 28 August 2023 – James Salmon Research by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) shows that rules designed to force large companies to reveal how long they take to pay suppliers have failed to improve payment practices. Since ‘duty to report’ legislation was introduced in 2017, the average time it takes a large business to pay an invoice has fallen by just one day, to 36 days. The CIPS found that there has only been a “slight improvement” in the number of […]

Uncategorised

The Impact of Late Payments on Cash Flow

Posted on

The Impact of Late Payments on Cash Flow 1st August 2023 Submitted by Nina Albert Around 87% of small and medium enterprises (those with annual sales of less than £5 million per year) are paid late in the UK, and other countries are faring no better. Businesses in the US, for instance, report that they are owed an average of $304,066 by late paying clients. It’s not just the amount of money that is worrisome, it is also the sheer number of invoices that are being paid late—about 50% of all those […]

Uncategorised

UK small businesses owed £32.1bn in late payments

Posted on

UK small businesses owed £32.1bn in late payments 19th July 2023 New research finds UK small businesses are owed £32.1 billion in late payments, with many considering using personal savings to support up their business UK small business are being hit hard by the worsening economic conditions, squeezed by falling consumer spending, as new research shows late payments are costing small businesses in the UK £31.1 billion. Also, more than a quarter (26%) of small business owners in the UK believe that they will be forced to cease trading if the outlook […]

Legislation

Your Rights

Posted on

Your Rights Legislation was introduced as long ago as 1998 when The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 came into force. This initial legislation has since been strengthened and extended by the implementation of The Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations of 2002 and 2013 The legislation had two purposes. Firstly, to provide compensation to creditors for the late payment of debts. Secondly, to discourage late payment of invoices. The legislation provides for interest to be a statutory right, claimed at 8% over the Bank of England base rate and […]