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Late Payments in the pandemic

16.12.2020

Small businesses are feeling the pinch as invoice payments get later and later. Surely it shouldn’t be this hard for businesses to get their hands on their money? At Cashflows we think you should be able to take what's yours when you want it.


As the world of payments moves faster, it’s ironic that some small businesses are waiting longer than ever to be paid by their customers.
Research by The Federation of Small Businesses shows that more than two thirds of those surveyed have experienced late or frozen payments* during the Coronavirus pandemic, at a time when positive cashflow can make a huge difference to business survival.


With £23bn of debt outstanding from private and public sectors buyers ** and 43% of UK businesses feeling they have to accept longer payment terms in order to avoid bankruptcy***, it’s no surprise that  the UK Government has been vocal in challenging negative B2B payments behaviour.
The Small Business Commissioner is investigating a wider sharing of good and bad payments practice to highlight offenders, with possible fines for those who breach terms. Old habits die hard though, and it might be difficult to force through legislation for change quickly in a trading environment as tough as this one. 


We would love to see a trend towards a more positive and balanced relationship between vendor and buyer.  Acceptance of card and digital payments can help businesses to get paid quickly while reducing admin time and costs. With Cashflows Pay by Link, businesses can get paid faster for outstanding invoices, sending a payment link by email or including a link within their invoice to encourage payment by card. In addition, Cashflows is making anytime settlement**** of card payments to all our customers, including next-day and same-day settlement options.  Cashflows is proud to be doing our part to help business to keep commerce and cash flow moving.  
 

 

 


*FSB Late Again Report 2020 https://www.fsb.org.uk/static/84f47dd3-0cbe-4339-afd147be808b02f5/Late-Again-How-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-impacting-payment-terms-for-small-firms.pdf
** Pay UK Research https://www.wearepay.uk/uk-smes-face-debt-burden-of-23-4-billion/ 
*** Intrum European Payments Report 2020 (https://www.intrum.co.uk/business-solutions/analytics-insights/european-payment-report-2020/

****With Anytime Settlement, funds are settled to your merchant account on an hourly basis. Remittance is available within the hours of 9-5 Monday to Friday. Your business bank may take longer to process funds.