Market updates
Late payments in the UK
56.4m staff hours a year spent chasing late payments, at a cost of £6.3bn. What the numbers look like, and what businesses are doing about it.
Tom Young
Co-Founder & Director
• 3 min read
56.4m staff hours per year chasing late payments. Over 5 million micro and small businesses in the UK employ 13 million people and drive a third of business turnover, and delayed payment disrupts cash flow badly enough to threaten survival.
The impact
15% of SMEs cited cash flow and late payments as an obstacle to operating in 2023. Small businesses are owed roughly £22,000 on average in overdue payments, representing about 18% of invoices, with average payment time running at 32 days.
What it costs
- 56.4m staff hours per year spent chasing
- £6.3bn per year in resource cost
- A further £684m per year in financing to cover the resulting cash flow gaps
The response
Businesses are increasingly turning to funding facilities and credit control services to bridge the gap, with invoice finance the preferred option because it delivers payment immediately rather than waiting on the customer.
For an independent, no-obligation review of your options, call 0330 0438 011.
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