{"id":19856,"date":"2019-12-12T12:29:14","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T12:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smh.group\/?p=19856"},"modified":"2023-02-15T13:50:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T13:50:06","slug":"late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/","title":{"rendered":"Late payments nearly double debt owed to SMEs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>If your business is suffering from unpaid\nbills, you are far from alone. Over half of UK SMEs are suffering from overdue\npayments according to a study released in November, with resulting overall debt\nrising from \u00a313bn in 2018 to \u00a323.4bn. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The poll by <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wearepay.uk\/uk-smes-face-debt-burden-of-23-4-billion\/\">Pay.UK<\/a><\/span><\/strong> also shows that three quarters of SMEs are having to wait a month or longer over the agreed terms for payment, with 45% waiting two months or more. The amount businesses are spending on chasing money owed has also risen, with just over 20% spending over \u00a3500 a month chasing payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the\naverage debt burden per business has increased to around \u00a325,000 from just over\n\u00a317,000 in 2018, businesses are now struggling to meet their own costs. A third\nare relying on bank overdrafts, with around a quarter reporting their own late\npayment problems mean they have had to delay payments to their suppliers.\nPaying staff and business bills has also become more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plans\nannounced in June that moved responsibility for the Prompt Payment Code to the\nSmall Business Commissioner were intended to herald strengthened measures\nagainst late payment. The proposals involved imposing fines and binding payment\nplans, as well as holding company boards accountable for supply chain payments\nand setting up a fund to help businesses use technology to improve payment\nmanagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are\nalready reporting requirements for large companies to disclose payment terms\nand practice, but compliance is poor. Signing up to the Code is also voluntary,\nexcept for suppliers bidding for public contracts of over \u00a35m. From 1\nSeptember, such businesses must demonstrate they have effective payment systems\nin place to comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lack\nof enforcement provisions in the new measures have been met with criticism.\nAlternative proposals from the Association of Accounting Technicians for\ncompanies with over 250 employees to be forced to sign up to the Prompt Payment\nCode and meet 30- rather than 60-day payment terms have received the backing of\nnearly three-quarters of MPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the latest figures showing that supply chain payments are an escalating issue, the major political parties have included the issue in their manifestos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, if your business is affected by late payments, please let us know if we can help by contacting our <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/chartered-accountants\/\">Accounting &#038; Business Advisory<\/a><\/span><\/strong> on <strong>0114 266 4432<\/strong> or <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"mailto:info@smhca.co.uk\">info@smhca.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If your business is suffering from unpaid bills, you are far from alone. Over half of UK SMEs are suffering from overdue payments according to a study released in November, with resulting overall debt rising from \u00a313bn in 2018 to \u00a323.4bn. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[433,83,314,432,431],"class_list":["post-19856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smh-accounting-business-advisory","tag-business-spending","tag-chartered-accountants","tag-debt","tag-late-payments","tag-smes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Late payments nearly double debt owed to SMEs - SMH Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If your business is suffering from unpaid bills, you are far from alone. Over half of UK SMEs are suffering from overdue payments according to a study released in November, with resulting overall debt rising from \u00a313bn in 2018 to \u00a323.4bn.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Late payments nearly double debt owed to SMEs - SMH Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If your business is suffering from unpaid bills, you are far from alone. Over half of UK SMEs are suffering from overdue payments according to a study released in November, with resulting overall debt rising from \u00a313bn in 2018 to \u00a323.4bn.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SMH Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-12T12:29:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-15T13:50:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/grid-commercial-finance.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brendan Hall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brendan Hall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brendan Hall\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/#\/schema\/person\/637129b7464f960037f1b676f625570e\"},\"headline\":\"Late payments nearly double debt owed to SMEs\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-12T12:29:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-15T13:50:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/\"},\"wordCount\":381,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/grid-commercial-finance.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"business spending\",\"chartered accountants\",\"debt\",\"late payments\",\"SMEs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"SMH Accounting &amp; Business Advisory\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/\",\"name\":\"Late payments nearly double debt owed to SMEs - SMH Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/late-payments-nearly-double-debt-owed-to-smes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/grid-commercial-finance.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-12T12:29:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-15T13:50:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/#\/schema\/person\/637129b7464f960037f1b676f625570e\"},\"description\":\"If your business is suffering from unpaid bills, you are far from alone. 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