Payment Practice Is Improving

The Better Payment Practice Group welcomes the research findings, published this month, by the Credit Management Research Centre (CMRC) at the University of Leeds Business School. The CMRC Quarterly Survey points to greater awareness of the late payment legislation and high levels of awareness of the Better Payment Practice Campaign.

The CMRC survey questioned 700 businesses, picked at random, of which:

• 44% stated that they were aware of the work of the Better Payment Practice Group

• 5% of small firms stated they had used the Late Payment Legislation – an increase from 2% when the survey was previously conducted six months ago.

• 11% stated that they intended to use the Late Payment Legislation. This research follows on from other positive findings on the issue of late payment this year:

• 39.8% of all payments were 15 or more days late in quarter one 1999, down from 45.3% in quarter one 1998. (Source: Dun and Bradstreet International Risk and Payment Review, July 1999)

• Average payment period for sales invoices in the UK stands at 46.2 days, against an EU average of 55.4 days( Source: Grant Thornton European Business Survey, Spring 1999)

Peter Rowe, Director General of the Institute of Credit Management and member of the BPPG, said:

"We are pleased to see improvement in the payment culture being confirmed from a number of sources. However the UK has a long way to go to meet the example set by countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. We urge all firms,large and small, to make prompt payment a priority, both in terms of paying on time and ensuring they get paid on time."