Small Business Commissioner welcomes late payments announcement in the King’s speech

Emma Jones CBE, the UK’s Small Business Commissioner, has welcomed confirmation in the King’s Speech today that the Government will be taking forward a Bill to tackle late payments. Emma Jones said: Today in the King’s Speech it was confirmed that the Government will be introducing a Bill to tackle late and unfair payments.

This is excellent news for UK businesses. Currently late payments cost the UK economy £11 billion a year with founders spending over 86 hours chasing overdue invoices. I am committed to get money moving in the economy and free up small businesses time to grow and thrive. Ending late payments will be critical to realising this goal.

– Emma Jones CBE, Small Business Commissioner The recent UK Government consultation response indicated that the Government was minded to deliver the following on late payments: Give stronger powers to the Small Business Commissioner, including the power to investigate businesses suspected of poor payment practices, adjudicate payment disputes outside of the court process, and levy financial penalties on businesses that persistently pay their suppliers late.

Impose maximum payment terms of 60 days, with strictly limited exemptions. Mandate interest on late payments at 8% above the Bank of England base rate. Introduce a time limit for raising disputes upon payments.

Require the boards or audit committees of any persistently late-paying large company to publish commentary on why payment performance is poor and what actions they are taking to fix this.