Skip to main content

Small Businesses: Billing

Question for Department for Business and Trade

UIN HL10055, tabled on 11 September 2023

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent research published by Intuit QuickBooks this month on the impact of late payments on small and medium-sized enterprises, which found that 41 per cent believe their businesses are at risk of shutting down within the next year if late payments persist.

Answered on

25 September 2023

The Government is aware that late payment remains a significant problem for small businesses across the country. That is why at the beginning of 2023 the Government launched a review of Cash flow and Prompt Payment, alongside a public consultation on the Payment Performance Regulations. The findings of the review, alongside the consultation response, will be published later in 2023.

The Government will use the findings of this review to improve the Payment Performance Regulations, the Small Business Commissioner, and the Prompt Payment Code to improve payment culture in the UK, to reduce late payments and its impact on SMEs.