According to a recent survey, the government’s endeavours to protect SME’s during the recession have failed to have any tangible impact.
Lack of cash flow – as a result of supplier late payments – are containing to characterize market conditions and prevent the UK’ from getting on the road to economic recovery.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, despite the government’s efforts to introduce a ‘Prompt Payment Charter’, most small businesses are still waiting over three months before payments are settled.
The findings of the survey revealed that almost 5,000 of the businesses going into administration cite the reasons behind their failure to be due to a lack of cash flow caused by late payment.
As small businesses do their best to fight the increasing demands of the recession and hold on to whatever profit they have left, the culture of non-payment looks set to continue if the Government’s ‘Prompt Payment’ Code’ is not implemented more effectively.