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Pay Me Direct - helping SMEs fight back against late payment

Written by News Desk

Thursday, 20 December 2007

New research from Bacs – the not-for-profit industry body behind Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit – reveals that late payment remains the curse of British businesses, with the average SME having £30,000 outstanding at any one time. Under the banner of its Pay Me Direct campaign, Bacs is providing online advice to help SMEs fight back. Their character Sal Smart is an advocate of automated payment – which can support that fight – and plays host to a series of helpful hints and tips at www.paymedirect.co.uk. During the research, part of the Bacs annual business omnibus, SME business owners claimed they experienced fewer late payment problems than the previous years. Yet the findings showed that the figure put on outstanding payments owed to SMEs had leapt by £2.6 billion to a massive £18.6 billion! The average amount outstanding to a SME at any one time is £30,000 Almost a third of SMEs questioned claimed they’d go bust when faced with an amount owing of up to just £20,000 Almost one fifth of SMEs now employ a dedicated person to chase overdue invoices The average SME loses around 17 days per year on this onerous task The research findings included a regional breakdown of late payment in the UK, dividing the country into Scotland, North West, South East, North East including Yorkshire and Humberside, Midlands and East Anglia, Greater London, and Wales and the South West. When it came to the amount of time spent by SMEs chasing late payment, London fared worst at 5.5 hours a week or 38 days a year, while the North West fared best at 1.6 hours a week (12 days a year). In terms of the average amount owed to SMEs, London had the highest amount, £51,000, while the lowest was Scotland (£8,000). You can find the full UK late payment map, as well as those tips on automated payment, at www.paymedirect.co.uk .

 

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