More than 90 per cent of businesses have been impacted by late payments, according to a Daily Focus poll.
Launched as part of a new Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce campaign to get the business community talking about the late payments crisis, the poll featured in Daily Focus last week ended with 93 per cent of respondents saying their business has been impacted by late payments.
The poll went live as businesspeople including Stone Junction’s Richard Stone and Kathryn Bayliss of Stafford Industrial Supplies spoke out about how they have been impacted, describing their experiences as ‘crippling’ and ‘extremely difficult to manage.’
Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce is encouraging businesses to get involved with a Government consultation on proposed late payments measures, which runs until Thursday, 23 October.
The organisation also wants firms to share experiences to feed into its late payment reform.
Since Daily Focus reported on the launch of the campaign, other businesses have come forward.
Their comments and insights include everything from receiving a mandatory compliance update from a customer which outlines an updated payment term of 60 days from month end through to naming and shaming large organisations described as ‘terrible’ at paying bills to subcontractors.
Commercial gas engineer Ashley James, of Stoke-on-Trent-based GEDMI Services, has filed a court claim against a company due to them not paying 48 invoices relating to work over a three-week period this summer.
Ashley, who only set up the firm in May, says this has caused unnecessary stress and is hampering his company’s growth.
He told Daily Focus: “It’s hampering my growth because I plan to reinvest profits into new equipment so that I can diversify my work.
“I’m living in constant fear that other customers won’t pay and chasing payment is taking time away from doing other things for my business. I can see how late payments sink some businesses.”
Declan Riddell, policy adviser at Staffordshire Chambers, said: “Our campaign to highlight the devastating impact of late payments on business has certainly struck a chord, with local businesses approaching us to share their experiences.
“The Late Payments consultation closes this Thursday (23 October) and we urge all businesses to take a moment to share their views and call for more to be done to make late payments a thing of the past.”
- Businesses who can share their experiences of late payments with Staffordshire Chambers should email declan.riddell@staffordshirechambers.co.uk
- The Department for Business and Trade consultation can be found here: https://ditresearch.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0v37vzvBpfM5Exw
- Edgar Blazier, founder and director of SYTECH, has come up with his own proposals on how the late payments crisis could be addressed, read more here.
