Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support small businesses with receiving payments owed to them and to encourage the prompt repayment of invoices.

Late payments are one of the biggest problems facing small businesses and the self-employed.

In September 2024 we announced a package of new measures aimed at tackling late payments and supporting small businesses, these included:

• A new Fair Payment Code, which was launched in February 2025, highlighting businesses that are committed to paying their suppliers on time.
• The introduction of secondary legislation which will require large companies to include their headline payment performance data in their annual reports.
• The launch of a public consultation, later this year, which will test measures that will go even further to tackle late payments.