I launched the Good Business Pays campaign on the 14th May 2021 to encourage the UK’s largest companies to fast track payments to small suppliers, helping them bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and injecting vital capital into the economy. This is a problem that has existed in the UK for over forty years. But despite the great efforts of successive governments, new technology and many people and organisations, the problem for small businesses waiting a long time to get paid still exists. We aim to bring an end to slow and late payments.
Small businesses are a growth engine for the UK economy, employing 61% of the private sector workforce (16.8 million) and generating 52% of turnover. Yet 50,000 go out of business each year due to cash flow problems.
Developed initially with the help of the Federation of Small Businesses, the Good Business Pays campaign has the support from the country’s other leading business groups including the CBI, Make UK, British Chambers of Commerce, Institute of Directors and more than 20 other specialist trade or industry groups. We have also built cross-party political support for tackling late payment and have a strong working relationship with the Department for Business & Trade. Our campaign has attracted interest from governments in Australia, Europe and the United States.
Between them, these groups represent hundreds of thousands of UK businesses who in turn serve millions of customers. Our insights will always be available free of charge to small businesses and our campaign exists because of the support of our Corporate Partners: Mastercard, Natwest Group, Barclays and Intuit.
This is a time for leadership – a time to put in place everything we can to ensure our small businesses gain the certainty and confidence to create growth in the UK economy. The solutions are there to make this happen, so we believe it is purely a question of whether the will exists in leadership to make this commitment real.
We will call out poor payment performance and celebrate the best. In late 2021, we introduced the annual Good Business Pays Fast Payer Award which was be awarded only to companies who demonstrate good practice in fast and on-time payments to their smaller suppliers over time. But all companies can and should make a commitment to work towards this goal – it’s the right thing to do.
Please join us on this journey to make a positive change. If you interested in supporting us, please contact me directly at terry@goodbusinesspays.com
