According to the government’s website, over £23.4 billion is owed to businesses due to late payments in the UK. To help combat this, a new Small Business Commissioner has been appointed to lead the fight against this ever growing problem. Liz Barclay, the new Small Business Commissioner, will take over from the Interim Small Business Commissioner, Phillip king on 1st of July 2021.
Who is Liz Barclay?
Liz Barclay will be the first female Small Business Commissioner. She started out in TV and radio broadcasting, and went on to write for newspapers, magazines and websites on small business, consumer and personal finance issues. Liz has also published 5 business books!
Among other professional interests, Liz Barclay sat as Vice-Chair of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme from 2011 to 2017 as well as Chair Of the Board of Directors for Money Advice Liaison Group from 2016 to 2020.
Currently, Liz is the Financial inclusion commissioner, member of the Standards Boards of the Fundraising Regulator and The EQUITY Release Counts, chair of the BSI Consumer Forum and the Fair by Design Campaign and Ambassador of the Money Advice Trust Business Debt line.
What will Liz Barclay do?
Her role will primarily focus on helping small businesses, who supply larger companies, tackle the issue of late payments by having the power to order payments, issue fines and open investigations and using the Prompt Payment Code to encourage payments to be made ordinarily within 60 days.
This is just the latest step that the government has helped to tackle the issue of late payments and help small businesses including the 2021 budget.
What can you do to protect your business from late payments?
We applaud the government for taking steps to help solve the ever-growing issue of late payments by providing a solution to those who are experiencing late payments and whose cash flow is suffering.
If you’re worried about late payments from your customers, there is a preventive action you can take that will give you the ability to make smart, data-driven business decisions to mitigate the risk of late payments – CreditFocus.
You can use their powerful company credit reports that use the most recent credit data, to see how late, on time or early your new and existing customers are likely to make payments, how much credit you should extend and how to effectively manage it using the CreditFocus Credit Control Toolkit.
With this insight and toolkit at your disposal, you’ll be able to pick the right customers who are likely to pay you on time and in full, effectively manage and reduce the risk of late payments to protect your cash flow.
For customers that you have an ongoing relationship with, you can add them to your watchlist. This will notify you if something changes to their credit status that may affect their payments to you, allowing you to swiftly take action to recover any outstanding invoices before they become incapable of making payments.
With this insight, you’ll be able to pick the right customers who are likely to pay you on time and in full, reducing the risk of late payments and protecting your cash flow.
Head over to CreditFocus to find out more. You can even take a 30-day free trial and see for yourself!