- Leading fintech in bank-to-bank payments becomes one of the first companies to back the campaign founded by the UK’s leading business groups
- From 1st July 2021, all companies that have signed the Prompt Payment Code must pay 95% of invoices from small suppliers within 30 days
- Good Business Pays research shows up to £60bn of additional revenue and 460,000 extra jobs would be generated if large customers paid faster
1 July, 2021: GoCardless, a leading fintech in bank-to-bank payments processing over $20 billion in payments each year, has become one of the first companies to sign up to support the Good Business Pays campaign.
This news comes in the same week as a key milestone for the Prompt Payment Code (PPC). Under reforms introduced in January by the Office of the Small Business Commissioner (SBC), companies that have signed the PPC must pay 95% of the invoices they receive from small businesses within 30 days from 1st July 2021.
We know that slow and late payments present a serious challenge for small businesses, one that damages their cash flow and weakens their bottom line. On the flip side, we also know how powerful prompt payments can be, helping SMEs unlock significant growth which can, in turn, power the wider economy.
That’s why we’re proud to be one of the first companies signing up to support the Good Business Pays campaign. We’re excited to push for progress — not only for the tens of thousands of small businesses we serve, but all SMEs across the country. To make a real change for the better, we call on other UK businesses – both large and small – to join us in campaigning to help change attitudes so we can achieve faster payment.
Pranav Sood, VP Small Business at GoCardless
Research published in June by Good Business Pays showed that up to £60bn of additional revenue would be unlocked for small businesses if their large customers paid on receipt of their invoices, adding much needed capital as the nation looks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and enabling them to create up to 460,000 extra jobs.
GoCardless joining shows our movement is gathering momentum and attracting support from forward-thinking companies that recognise their responsibility to lead. As a business on a mission to take the pain out of getting paid, GoCardless has both the technology and expertise to help merchants of all sizes collect their payments, quickly and more easily than ever before.. In a competitive environment, it’s really encouraging to see them pushing for more to be done in tackling the problem of slow and late payment. We look forward to working with them as we gather more business support.
Terry Corby, Chair of the Good Business Pays campaign
The Good Business Pays campaign aims to get businesses paying not just on time, but working towards payment when small suppliers need it. It is calling on other large businesses to join GoCardless in signing up to show their support by adopting a set of pledges committing them to tackle slow and late payments.
To find out more about the Good Business Pays principles, pledge support for the campaign and explore the research study conducted by Cebr into the benefits of paying small businesses faster, visit goodbusinesspays.com.
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For media enquiries, please contact:
Good Business Pays: Claudia Wilson at Good Relations (cwilson@goodrelations.co.uk or 07385 392 394)
GoCardless: Linda Yang at GoCardless (lyang@gocardless.com or 07533 575 155)
About Good Business Pays
The Good Business Pays campaign launched 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.
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 Federation of Small Businesses, the Good Business Pays campaign has been launched with support from the country’s other leading business groups including the CBI, Make UK, BCC, IoD and the Creative Industries Federation. Between them, these groups represent hundreds of thousands of UK businesses. The campaign has been set-up with support from the Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) fund.
Good Business Pays is calling on businesses to sign up and show their support. Small businesses are encouraged to share their experiences (bad and good) of payment practices. Large businesses are asked to adopt a set of pledges committing them to:
- Complying with the Prompt Payment Code principles;
- Exploring digital solutions that enable small supplier invoices to be paid when they need it;
- Providing access to data that helps drive the fast invoice payment agenda for small businesses;
- Making sure payment performance data is published as required by the ‘duty to report’ on large businesses;
- Undertaking a quarterly review of feedback from suppliers on payment performance.
For more information, visit goodbusinesspays.com.
About GoCardless
GoCardless is a global leader in bank-to-bank payments. The GoCardless global payments network and technology platform takes the pain out of getting paid for 60,000 businesses worldwide, from multinational corporations to small businesses. Each year GoCardless processes US$20bn of payments across more than 30 countries. GoCardless is headquartered in the UK, with additional offices in Australia, France, Germany and the United States. For more information, please visit www.gocardless.com and follow us on Twitter @GoCardless.