Some 400,000 small firms are threatened by late payments as costs surge, says a new study
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) warned about a worsening of the UK late payment crisis, high inflation and mounting admin for firms that trade internationally.
A new study found close to one in three (30%) of small business owners have seen late payment of invoices increase over the last three months, with a further 8% experiencing other forms of poor payment practice. Only 6% say that a change in payment terms has been agreed upon over that period.
As a result, approaching one in ten (8%) say late payment is now threatening the viability of their business. The latest government statistics show that there are an estimated 5.5 million small businesses in the UK – a figure which fell by nearly 400,000 between 2020 and 2021. The new FSB study suggests that a similar number of firms (400,000) could be forced to close again this year due to late payment alone.
