17 Nov SMALL BUSINESS COMMISSIONER CALLS FOR PAYING BILLS PROMPTLY
Over 30 SME business owners attended the first post pandemic network event after nearly two years at Metro Bank’s Liverpool Street store this week. Headlining the event was Liz Barclay, the Small Business Commissioner, who spoke passionately about the issue of late payments.
Industry research reveals that poor payment practices have a huge impact on small business owners nearly two thirds (65%) of whom say they were frequently paid late.
Late payments impact every aspect of a business: from business owners stopping (47%) or reducing (37%) their own pay, cancelling training (36%), failing to replace broken equipment (20%) to most worryingly being forced to pay their staff late (7%).
The Small Business Commissioner notes that if small businesses were paid on time, the UK economy would be boosted by an estimated £2.5 billion per annum.
Michael Roe, local business manager at Metro Bank’s Liverpool Street store organised the event. “We worked closely with one of our customers Your Business Community – a business networking community – to attract over 30 small business owners to the event. Every Metro Bank store has customer-facing local business managers who are there to support local business owners with their banking and financial needs to help them thrive and grow.
“Liz Barclay is helping to shine a light on one of the biggest problems small business owners face daily. Delayed and late payments have a significant impact on business performance and cause a vicious circle as, by impacting cash flow, small business owners can themselves be forced to delay payment. We would encourage all business owners to contact their bank which may be able to help smooth out temporary cash flow issues.”
The Liverpool Street Metro Bank store is located at 117-121 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 7PP. The store is open Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 6pm, Sunday 11am to 5pm.
