Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Leong on 21 July (HL Deb cols 1068-1070), what assessment they have made of whether late payments may be the fault of a third party or a bank; and whether such payments should be subject to statutory interest.

The Government has not made a specific assessment of late payments being caused by third parties or a bank, but it does recognise late payments are often accidental and can arise due to issues with systems.

The Commercial Payments Bill preserves and strengthens the existing statutory interest regime, under which statutory interest arises where a qualifying payment is made late. Where a qualifying debt remains unpaid after the relevant date, statutory interest will generally accrue even if the purchaser attributes the delay to its bank, payment provider or another third party begins to run and strengthens enforcement of payment obligations.