Small Businesses: Billing

(asked on 13th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the survey by Pay.UK, published in November 2019, showing that the amount owed to small businesses in late payments increased from £13 billion in 2018 to £23.4 billion in 2019.


Answered by
Lord Callanan Portrait
Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This question was answered on 24th February 2020

There are several organisations that have produced estimates for outstanding late payment debt, and the disparities between them can be sizeable due to different methodologies and sample sizes. The government keeps estimates under continuous review, including Pay.UK figures.

Late payments are a drain on productivity and have an immediate impact on cashflow, particularly for small businesses. This Government made a manifesto commitment to clamp down on late payment more broadly and strengthen the powers of the Small Business Commissioner to support small business that are exploited by their larger partners.

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