Businesses are plagued by late payment of invoices, with nearly 40 closing every day, while tougher but ineffective legislation will not pay the bills, says Sebastien Marchon, CEO of fintech Rydoo
The late payments crisis in the UK is not new. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act arrived first in 1998, followed by the Prompt Payment Code, and then came the Office of the Small Business Commissioner established in 2017.
Yet today, an estimated £11bn is still lost to late payments every year, around 38 businesses close every day because they run out of cash waiting to be paid and the number of businesses carrying overdue invoices rose by 3% in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
The last King’s Speech introduced the Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill, proposing a 60-day payment cap, mandatory 8% interest on overdue invoices, and expanded enforcement powers for the Small Business Commissioner. On top of this, the Commercial Payments Bill recently had its second reading in the House of Lords, reinforcing the same principles with even greater urgency.
