A fifth of SMEs wouldn’t survive a second lockdown business news 7 September 2020.
James Salmon, Operations Director.
A fifth of SMEs wouldn’t survive a second lockdown, Big companies warned on late payment, latest on insolvent business debt, what to do with toxic loans, GDP, the BOE plus covid-19, market and other business news.
Here are CPA we want to share the business news stories we have seen that we think will affect our members and readers. Many of us are busy fighting to protect our businesses and therefore might have missed some of the news that could impact small businesses, their owners and those that sell on credit.
Nearly a fifth of small businesses would not survive second lockdown
A survey by insurance group Simply Business reveals that 17% of small businesses believe they would not survive a new lockdown while a total of 62% said they were less confident about their firm’s long-term outlook.
Only 5% of respondents think they would cope better. Elsewhere, the Times reports that Alok Sharma, the business secretary, is considering the introduction of cash grants for businesses hit by local lockdowns.
Warning over stress of late payment
Small Business Commissioner Philip King has written to large businesses warning them that if they reduce the credit they make available to small suppliers many SMEs will go bust.
Mr King urged small businesses to get in touch with his office if they are experiencing late payment problems and said that many of the companies he has written to promptly paid up.
Big companies have been warned before with little effect. CPA however has away to break the late payment culture and really motivate big companies to change their policies (see below).
Fall in insolvent business debt
A report from Red Flag Alert shows that the coronavirus crisis led to a drop of £189m in insolvent business debt during the last quarter, with total insolvent business debt at £1.577bn at the end of June, down 10.7% from £1.766bn at the end of March.
Chancellor unlikely to create toxic loan vehicle
The Telegraph reported on Saturday that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to ignore calls to create a state-backed organisation that would refinance toxic business loans handed out as part of coronavirus support initiatives.
Proposals put together by a taskforce led by trade body The City UK and EY would see the Government take responsibility for debts, easing the burden on banks. Lloyds chairman Norman Blackwell has warned that bankers will be expected to do “everything they can” to recover toxic coronavirus loans, with firms possibly put into administration or assets being sold off.
Lord Blackwell suggested that “the best thing” for firms that remained viable would be to “take the loans off the banks, pay out their guarantee and put them in a vehicle which will over time try and recoup money from the companies.”
Pubs and restaurants help economy to 6% growth in July
Figures due out on Friday are likely to show Britain’s economy grew by 6% in July compared with June with GDP bolstered by the re-opening of pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and other services from the beginning of the month.
The EY Item Club expects economic growth to have continued in August thanks to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, but Howard Archer, the group’s chief economist warns: “The big question mark is what happens in the fourth quarter. There is only so much pent-up demand and with the furlough scheme coming to an end we can expect job cuts, the scale of which is a big unknown.”
Remote working will cost Britain £15bn a year
A report by PwC warns that the economy could be dealt a £15.3bn blow every year due to impact of remote working on cleaners, coffee shops and security guards. Jonathan Gillham, PwC’s chief economist, said that while suburbs and smaller towns stood to benefit from home-working, the overall economy would suffer because of the impact on bigger cities such as London and Manchester.
Deloitte partners face £19m High Court claim
Two Deloitte partners are being sued for £19m by a business owner who alleges they mishandled his company’s administration due to their “close relationship” with Barclays.
BoE policymaker: Further QE may be needed to hit inflation target
Senior Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Michael Saunders has warned an economic recovery could stall, pushing the Bank to increase quantitative easing measures.
Mr Saunders, who votes on interest rates as a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, voiced concern that the end of the furlough scheme will drive an increase in unemployment, while the initial boost from lockdown measures being eased could subside.
While the economic rebound has recently exceeded BoE expectations, Mr Saunders said: “I would be cautious about extrapolating much from this apparent outperformance.” He also said he suspects that government support measures – such as the job retention scheme, tax payment deferrals, and mortgage holidays – “turned out to be more powerful than expected in supporting household incomes and spending.”
Mr Saunders thinks it is “quite likely” that additional monetary easing will be required for inflation to see a “sustained re turn” to the 2% target
Stress test reveals potential blow to borrowing cost
Stress tests by the Treasury show that if the interest rate were to increase from 0.2% to 1%, the Government’s borrowing costs would be driven up by between £30bn and £40bn a year. The analysis is likely to prompt calls for the Bank of England to continue with quantitative easing, which is currently only guaranteed until the end of the year.
Investors urge start-ups to return to offices
Prominent technology investors have urged start-ups to return to offices, voicing concerns that continued working from home could harm their productivity.
Brent Hoberman, co-founder the firstminute Capital investment fund, said: “I think it’s going to be very detrimental if we keep people apart and we lose the team spirit and learning by osmosis that happens in offices”.
Tim Levene, CEO of venture capital business Augmentum, has called on CEOs to “recognise that we cannot continue to operate as we have been these past few months,” warning of dangers to the mental health of start-up employees if they continue to work from home.
CBI boss urges UK Government to adopt new jobs support scheme
CBI boss Carolyn Fairbairn has said the Government needs a successor to its furlough scheme as she warned against a rise in corporate taxes, calling instead for an extension of business support schemes. Ms Fairbairn’s comments come as MPs from across the political spectrum call for the Chancellor to introduce a more targeted support scheme to help the areas hardest hit by COVID-19 – particularly, hospitality and the media and creative industries.
Rise in minimum wage ‘unaffordable’ after pandemic
The Sunday Telegraph reported that certain members of the Low Pay Commission are warning that Britain will not be able to afford a planned increase in the minimum wage due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rate was expected to rise from £8.72 to £9.21 per hour in April but experts now believe the pay hike could now be unaffordable for many companies and result in increased unemployment.
Tech has potential to be the engine of our economy for years to come
Tony Spillett, tax partner and UK head of technology and media at BDO, wrote in the Sunday Times on how the UK’s technology sector has emerged faster and stronger from lockdown than most other areas of the economy and calls for a boost to the UK’s innovative reputation, “which must be enabled rather than impeded by Brexit.”
Chancellor must act to avoid permanent loss of skills
Almost two thirds of manufacturers told industry group MakeUK that the job retention scheme (JRS) should be extended for key sectors to protect vital parts of the economy.
“The protection of key skills should be a strategic national priority as this will be the first building block in getting the economy up and running,” said Stephen Phipson, MakeUK’s chief executive.
“The starting point for this should be an extension of the JRS to those sectors which are not just our most important but who have been hit hardest. Failure to do so will leave us out of step with our major competitors and risk a loss of key skills when we can least afford to do so.”
Meanwhile, a survey from BDO published today shows 60% of mid-sized businesses do not plan to bring back all of their staff when the Treasury stops supporting the wages of those still off work, raising the prospect of a full-blown unemployment crisis in the autumn.
Give small businesses vouchers to ease EU transition, FSB says
The Federation of Small Businesses is calling on the government to provide “transition vouchers” to help to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period. National chairman Mike Cherry said: “The transition period will soon be at an end, but the small firms that make up 99% of our business community still have no clear sense of what they’ll be transitioning to.”
He continued: “Transition vouchers mark a sensible way forward: set sums that can be spent on expertise, tech and training that will ease the small business community’s move to a new relationship with the EU. If the government wants firms to take preparatory action over the next few months, it needs to help them to do so.”
Johnson given a week to save aviation
The bosses of the UK’s 20 biggest airports have warned Boris Johnson that he risks “irreparable damage” to the economy unless he moves to replace quarantine with COVID-19 testing in the next week.
In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, the signatories give Mr Johnson seven days to make the change as part of a series of measures to prevent the loss of up to 110,000 aviation and allied industry jobs. Separately, at least 24 Conservatives are pressuring Rishi Sunak to suspend air passenger duty until the end of summer next year.
Case for pensions tax rise to aid Covid recovery
Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has told the Treasury Select Committee there is a case for “at least a modest increase” in tax on pensions in payment.
Brexit
The U.K. is stepping up its preparations for the trade talks with the EU to fail and is planning new legislation that would override key parts of its withdrawal agreement, a move that could threaten the negotiations further. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said this week is the “moment of reckoning” for getting a deal done but warned over the impasse that still exists over state aid and fisheries, while U.K. negotiator David Frost sought to temper any high hopes that some headway will be made, saying in a newspaper interview that the UK would not give any ground on the issue of fishing rights and state aid rules.
PM Boris Johnson has told the EU to agree a trade deal by October 15th or to “move on”.
Covid-19 general news
Global cases have surpassed 27.1 million while recorded deaths exceed 883,000
Deaths in America from covid-19 will reach 410,000 by the start of 2021, according to the University of Washington’s health institute—a near-doubling of the current toll.
U.S. virus cases remain steady but the infection numbers in the U.K. increased by 2988, the most in more than three months. The surge comes as children return to school and the government has started a campaign to get workers back to their offices, especially in city centers, to help the economy recover. The total now stands at 347,152 cases. Two more people died after testing positive, bringing the number of fatalities linked to the virus to 41,551.
Across Europe, the increasing concern is a growing fatigue among citizens with the virus and the constraints it has placed on general life, a risk that a former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has highlighted too.
Russia’s covid-19 vaccine produced antibodies in all 76 participants in a trial conducted in June and July, the Lancet, a medical journal, reported.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the biggest pharmaceutical firms are drafting a pledge not to bypass standards when testing their competing vaccines.
New research published in the Lancet Microbe, has found a reason for hope heading into the winter. . Doctors found that very few people ever had both a cold and the flu simultaneously. In lab tests, lung tissue previously exposed to rhinovirus—the commonest cause of colds—proved impervious to the flu. Rhinovirus triggers interferon, an antiviral protein, which launches an immune response lasting for at least five days. This mutual exclusivity could potentially help avert covid-19.
India recorded more than 94,000 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, a global record. Its daily figures are now greater than China’s cumulative total. It has the world’s second highest number of coronavirus cases, passing Brazil on Monday to reach more than 4.2 million confirmed infections as the epidemic surges across the South Asian nation
James Moore: When will firms get serious about climate change?
The Independent’s James Moore is skeptical about whether UK companies are serious about tackling climate change, citing a report from KPMG which found although 82% of business leaders said it was a “top priority”, only 8% reported having a fully-fledged plan for how to tackle the risks in place.
Some 89% claimed they were “in early stage discussions” and 3% said they had developed no plans at all. Moore does give some credit to institutional investors, whose efforts he says have meant corporates are at least talking about the issue.
The Press and Journal also picks up on the survey and cites KPMG UK’s head of ESG, Sue Bonney, who said: “Talk now on any post-pandemic recovery almost always includes climate change at its heart. But our survey suggests that, while many businesses are taking ESG seriously, there is a long way to go before we can truly say that everyone is placing it at the centre of their future strategic growth plans.”
Study reveals towns with highest rate of tax avoidance
A new study by UHY Hacker Young shows high net-worth individuals are increasingly likely to admit tax avoidance to escape harsh penalties, with research showing towns in the stockbroker belt of the home counties have the biggest concentration of people admitting tax avoidance.
Windsor tops the list, with 23 disclosures to HMRC of unpaid tax per 100,000 population last year, compared to the UK average of seven.
St Albans followed, with 20 disclosures per 100,000 population with Guildford and Tunbridge Wells coming next.
Sean Glancy, of UHY Hacker Young, said: “The stockbroker belt is littered with tax avoidance hotspots. The home counties is home to many high net-worth individuals and well-paid city commuters. These are the groups most likely to have the highest income tax bills – leading to greater incentives to find ways to reduce payments.”
Markets.
Tech shares in the US continued to decline on Friday following heavy profit taking Thursday. This bled into investor sentiment in the UK as a promising midday rally the “tech wreck” ultimately influenced UK investors as caution led to selling going into the weekend with the FTSE 100 falling back to the lows of 5800. The S&P 500 index fell by 3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell by 5% before both made up ground later in the day.
Asian Markets traded lower in response to the Wall Street sell off, both the Tokyo and Hong Kong indices were off 0.5%-0.6%
Housebuilders were also in the red following news that the UKs competition regulator (CMA) said it had found “troubling evidence” that house developers have handed out “potentially unfair” terms concerning ground rents in leasehold contracts and potential mis-selling practises. The CMA will be investigating certain firms who bought freeholds from these developers and have continued to use the same unfair leasehold contract terms. Barret Developments, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group all featured among the top 10 decliners.
Sterling has declined on the Brexit news to 1.316 USD and 1.113 Euros.
Oil prices were loweron global demand concerns and gold prices gained after a rally in the US dollar stalled.
UK Construction Output slowed in August as subdued order books put the brakes on the sector’s coronavirus recovery. The headline IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Total Activity Index registered 54.6 in August, down from 58.1 in July.
UK New Car Sales dropped again last month, reversing July’s increase, with just over 87,000 models sold in what is traditionally one of the quietest months for trading. According to new figures from the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders, new car sales fell 5.8 per cent in August.
US Unemployment rate fell to 8.4% in August amid the addition of 1.4m jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The market had expected a more modest fall in the jobless rate, to 9.8%, though with a similar number of jobs created. Average hourly earnings rose by 11c, or 0.4%, to $29.47, beating expectations for no change.
Vodafone Idea will rebrand as Vi in a move to help its image and boost market share post merger.
Monzo limits fee-free cash withdrawals
Monzo has capped the amount of cash that customers can withdraw without incurring a fee at £250 amid concern over the digital bank’s financial health. Customers will be charged a 3% fee for withdrawals over this amount. Auditors at EY warned of “significant doubt” over the bank’s ability to operate as a going concern because of the uncertainty caused by COVID-19.
Economist: Pandemic can drive revamp of taxation
With Rishi Sunak believed to be considering tax increases as he looks to boost public finances that have taken a hit from the coronavirus crisis, Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has suggested that the Chancellor could use the pandemic to revamp the tax system. Mr Littlewood, musing on whether taxes should be cut or increased to support the economy, said: “My own view is to increase tax in order to deal with the immediate deficit this year might actually be cutting off your nose to spite your face.” Suggesting that “we don’t need to solve the mess in the public finances overnight,” Mr Littlewood argues that the economic hit from COVID-19 could be treated like a war debt, saying that if ministers believe the crisis has delivered a once in a generation shock, “we could realistically pay that off over a generation.” He also says the pandemic could serve as a starting po int to revamp and simplify a system of taxation that is “very complicated” and probably unbalanced. Mr Littlewood goes on to say a reworked system that sees “those with the broadest shoulders … carry the heaviest burden” may hurt growth, warning against a system centred on “drawing all of the enhanced tax revenue from a relatively small albeit affluent part of the population”.
Taxing times for the Chancellor
On Saturday, Philip Aldrick in the Times considered the Chancellor’s options as he looks to fix the nation’s finance in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, arguing that tax will need to rise at some point but debate remains on when. He pointed to analysis from economists who suggest Rishi Sunak may “wait until the recovery is entrenched before unveiling new fiscal rules”.
A Guardian editorial on Saturday said reports that Mr Sunak is contemplating a radical and redistributive budget that includes steeper taxes for the wealthy “have to be taken with a pound of salt”.
On the same day, Lauren Davidson in the Telegraph said the dent to public finances stemming from the COVID-19 crisis clearly has to be paid for, but raising taxes to the extent some reports claim “is not the way to do it” and is not guaranteed to boost revenues. Juliet Samuel in the Telegraph also mused on mooted tax increases, saying it will be hard as the Tory manifesto ruled out any big increases and Boris Johnson “doesn’t believe in raising taxes”.
Meanwhile, Merryn Somerset Webb in the FT warned that the taxes discussed as targets for increases “won’t raise enough to touch the sides of the problem.”
PM and Chancellor forge pact on tax
Boris Johnson and the Chancellor have come to an agreement on taxation that will likely mean a hike in taxes in November’s budget, with tax cuts to follow in 2023 or 2024, ahead of the next election.
The Sunday Times reported that Mr Johnson is not prepared to sanction rises in income tax, national insurance or VAT, but Rishi Sunak could equalise rates of capital gains tax with income tax and is said to be determined to suspend the “triple lock” on state pensions. Removing higher-rate tax relief on pension contributions is also likely to go ahead in November, the paper says
. The Mail on Sunday described the “fury” of Tory party donors who warn they will “turn off the funding taps” if Sunak hikes taxes on the wealthy to pay for the pandemic while Daniel Hannan in the Sunday Telegraph likened raising taxes to a second trauma for an economy already in a coma.
Finally, the Observer’s business leader said the time for “a big tax-raising budget has not yet arrived” and that, if anything, “the reverse is needed – an expansive budget with an increase in funding to protect the jobs of millions of workers. Concerns over the national debt should be sidelined.”
Bootle: Hiking taxes would prove deeply damaging
Roger Bootle issues a warning against tax rises in the Telegraph, stating that higher taxes would “blunt incentives” and damage economic performance. He says foreign aid is one area of spending that deserves to be trimmed. This should be done in combination with confidence-bolstering measures for the post-Brexit economy. Higher personal and corporate taxes would work against this and “risk an exodus of both talented people and successful businesses.” As for government debt, fears over a rise in interest rates could be ameliorated by the use of perpetual bonds – putting off refinancing state debt for decades or more. Elsewhere, the Mirror cites Doug McWilliams, of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, who agrees with Bootle’s position on debt, saying that running it down over 50 years “seems sensible.”
MP in Budget rebellion threat
Amid ongoing speculation over an increase in taxes being considered by the Chancellor, Conservative MP David Davis has warned that he would be willing to rebel over the content of the Budget. He told BBC Radio 4’s The Week in Westminster: “I’m not exactly the most virtuous person in terms of not voting against my party. But I’ve never voted against a Budget in my life. If it’s a tax-raising Budget I will.”
Conservative MP David Davis is leading the charge against a rise in taxes, arguing that Treasury plans for increases to be spread over the next four years “won’t work and it is not Conservative.”
Davis told the Daily Express: “We are already at the highest tax burden for 30 years. High taxes suppress economic activity, investment and employment. The smarter approach is to borrow cheaply as we look to spread the cost of the crisis, as in wartime, over 50 years or thereabouts and grow the economy as quickly as possible.”
Investors act on tax shift fears
Harry Brennan in the Telegraph said on Saturday wealthy individuals are selling off investment portfolios and second homes in fear of tax increases the Chancellor is said to be lining up for his autumn Budget, while others are pumping cash into pensions to take advantage of tax breaks and low rates before changes come into force.
Comment: Divide over taxes marks beginning of longer economic war
Writing in the Times, Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, talks about the new divide emerging in how the dire state of public finances is to be tackled, with Treasury hawks advocating tax rises while the doves support spending for growth. Littlewood gives several reasons why the doves may be right, but adds that, before too long they “will need also to become spending hawks.”
Reform property tax to level up the UK
A letter published in the Sunday Times called for reform of Britain’s property taxes. Signatories including Matthew Lesh of the Adam Smith Institute; Carys Roberts, executive director at the Institute for Public Policy Research, MPs and others assert that: “Replacing council tax and stamp duty with one simple property tax, based on actual property value and people’s ability to pay, will result in a fairer system of taxation for most of us.” They continue: “The government is promising to “level up” Britain. It should make a start by conducting a thorough review of our residential property taxes.”
Paolo Gentiloni: Tech giants should pay more tax
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for economics and taxation, told CNBC on Saturday that Big Tech have been the winners from the coronavirus pandemic and that it is time they started paying a fair amount of tax in Europe. “The giants of the digital platforms are the real winners of this crisis, from the economical point of view,” Gentiloni stated. “We all experience this in our own lives.” If negotiations on a proposed new digital tax collapse at the OECD-level collapse by the year-end, the European Commission “will come out next year with our own a proposal,” Gentiloni said.
Tax hikes would damage City of London, warns private equity veteran
City veteran Jon Moulton has warned that tax rises proposed by the Treasury would only benefit rival financial centres such as New York or Singapore, as London-based entrepreneurs with in-demand skills would be lured abroad.
Frasers in Debenhams gag claim
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group says Debenhams’ advisers are blocking it from rescuing the retail chain due to a gagging order preventing it from talking to landlords. CFO Chris Wootton said Frasers is not formally involved in the sale because it refused to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would prevent it from talking to Debenhams’ landlords for 18 months. The Times cites a source close to Debenhams who points to concern that Frasers could use confidential data to strike separate deals for Debenhams’ best stores with landlords – with Debenhams’ administrators at FRP saying this would reduce the value of the business for creditors.
Redde Northgate snaps up repair business
Nationwide Accident Repairs group has been partially rescued by Redde Northgate in a pre-pack administration led by PwC. Under the terms of the deal, Redde Northgate will buy 77 of the company’s 102 bodyshops and a fleet of mobile repair vans for up to £16m. The deal saves around 2,300 jobs.
Don’t let Covid-19 bust your business!
It will if your cash flow dries up, either sooner or later.
The Credit Protection Association (CPA) has been assisting thousands of UK businesses to get paid since 1914. We have seen many financial crises, this one will be particularly deadly for suppliers for sometime to come.
CPA eases cash from tardy debtors – Efficiently, Effectively, Economically and Ethically. Above all tactfully, because maintenance of goodwill is paramount.
To meet the needs of creditors in the current crisis, we have designed a “critical care” package especially tailored for the situation.
- The annual package costs start at very low rates
- A minimum performance warranty is provided
- Several complimentary services included
Clients instruct CPA on-line via their PC or phone, completely user-friendly. Your late paying customers are told to pay you direct (not to us).
A very recent report shows a 23% increase in the number of unpaid invoices since March 11th THIS YEAR – are you getting a build-up of late payers?
Right now, overdue accounts must be a concern and CPA has a great track record of encouraging slow-payers to pay their suppliers quickly.
It takes less than 17 minutes to see how you would benefit, do you have the time now?
No face-to-face meeting required – just call Peter Uwins, CPA’s National Sales Manager, on 020 8846 0000 (business hours) or email nsm@cpa.co.uk today.
When you see your money come in, you will be so glad you used CPA.
Do you sell on credit?
With pressures on the cash flow it is essential that you stay on top of the credit limits you grant customers and watch carefully for any late payments.
Those customers will look for the easiest option to boost their cash-flow. Don’t let it be you.
You can’t just assume your customers can and will pay you eventually, no matter how big their name is.
It is essential to have credit management systems in place to monitor and check your customers credit worthiness.
It is also best practice to use a trusted third party like CPA to make sure you are paid on time by customers, no matter how good a name they have.
About CPA
The Credit Protection Association can help!
Formed in 1914, CPA has been providing credit management services to SMEs for over 100 years.
At the Credit Protection Association, we provide first class credit information that can help you avoid being over extended to customers who are at risk. Our monitoring service can flag up warning signs long before the end, giving you the chance to adjust and reduce your exposure. We provide recommended credit limits and credit scores on a traffic light system and can help you set appropriate credit policies for your customers.
We regularly publish lists of the latest insolvencies but by then it is too late. Our credit reports however predict approximately 96% of company insolvencies long before they arrive.
Companies in trouble usually have very bad cash flow and they try to deal with it by delaying payment to their suppliers, increasing your exposure to them.
If you supply on credit, help us help you identify the risks.
Why use a third party collector?
As a third party collector, we can also get your payments prioritised over those who are not as hot on collections. When your customer receives a letter from the Credit Protection Association regarding their outstanding account, they are going to want to get that resolved as a priority. Our overdue account recovery service can get your unpaid invoices to the top of their “to do” list and get your invoice paid.
Over the years we have collected billions in overdue invoices for our customers.
Our debt recovery and credit management services give our members the financial freedom needed to grow and prosper, while our new Late Payment Compensation department could unlock hidden potential and offer the compensation needed to springboard your business to success.
You might be hesitant about contacting a debt collection agency. What are they going to be like?
Can they help your particular type of business?
There is no need for concern. CPA are courteous, helpful and very probably have had direct experience of working with your type of business.
Debt collection agencies are not all alike.
Success lies in both recovering money and keeping customers happy. The Credit Protection Association was founded in 1914 and has helped tens of thousands of UK businesses to collect outstanding payments and reduce the risk of incurring bad debt. We believe that creditors deserve to be paid for the work or goods they have supplied but we fully understand the need to maintain
the best possible relationship with customers!
At The Credit Protection Association, we provide solutions, advice and back-up in all areas relating to the supply of services or goods on account. Client-members receive everything they need from a single source to reduce debtor days and write-offs.
The Credit Protection Association has helped has assisted tens of thousands of UK businesses with their credit control requirements, since the First World War.
We are polite, firm and efficient when it comes to recovering outstanding debt.
“We have used CPA for a number of years now. The website is easy to navigate around with lots of helpful reports. The staff are always at hand and very friendly. CPA has helped us reduce our debt over the years and keep track of potential issues with our customers.”
~ CPA client in Buckinghamshire
“The service from CPA has proved to be everything that you said it would be. We have already seen a huge benefit. We have had a number of overdue accounts paid promptly and directly to us. It is also a huge weight off our mind to know that once we have passed an overdue payment over to you, you take care of everything whilst keeping us informed.
~ Credit Controller client in Warrington
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
Ready to speak to an advisor?
For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.
Call us today
0330 053 9263
CPA is passionate about late payment
The Credit Protection Association has been protecting smaller firms against poor payment practices for over 100 years.
We are extremely passionate about breaking the late payment culture that holds back the UK economy and threatens many SMEs with cash flow difficulties being the single biggest killer of Britain’s small businesses.
If you were regularly paid late we can help. Those former customers used you to boost their own cashflow, regularly paying you late.
As a result you had extra costs, you had the distraction of having to chase payment, you had opportunity costs because your capital was tied up in their late invoices.
Under little used legislation, you are entitled to compensation for those late payments.
Now you can boost your own cash-flow.
CPA can help unearth the those hidden treasures.
We have the technology to reveal the compensation you are due and we have the extensive experience and expertise to then turn those claims into cash.
Yes, CPA can help you boost your business cash-flow.
Don’t let your bankers control you, contact CPA today.
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
Do you realise you could be sitting on a fortune?
Late payments often result in a cash flow crunch and leave SMEs in need of a cash injection.
If you sold B2B on credit then there may be a hidden source of capital you can call on.
If you fancy an bit of extra cash in your business, rather than jumping through hoops with your bank, you could look to uncover the resources from an unexpected source within your own business.
Not many are aware but there could be a hidden fortune within your business, sitting there, just waiting to be uncovered and released.
We can help you uncover the pile of gold, you didn’t even know you were sitting on.
If you trade with other businesses and were often paid late then you could be entitled to significant compensation.
Under little known and under-utilised legislation your business could be due huge amounts in compensation that you didn’t even know about.
Let’s be clear – this is not a way to weaken any customer relationships you value. It is one that identifies who’s been paying late and then recover the potentially significant sums in compensation using Late Payment Legislation from businesses where the relationship has already ended.
You can pick and choose who you want us to follow up – but once we’ve agreed which companies you’d like to pursue compensation from it’s a fast process and there’s no financial outlay to you whatsoever. My team at CPA put its expertise to work to recover the compensation due and fight late payment culture.
That compensation could provide the cash boost your business needed.
But don’t delay, that compensation evaporates if not claimed within six years of the late payment.
How can CPA help?
CPA has developed a unique technology to dig into your accounting records and discover the cash injection you are due by means of compensation. The software does all the hard work. Our software interacts over the cloud with over 300 different software packages, working directly with your accounts package, just so long as it’s stored on a computer.
We recognise that most companies do not have the resources to spend time on the identification and calculation of Late Payment Compensation. Our service can produce an Analyses within just a few days with (usually) less than 30 mins of co-operation from our clients. We work directly with over 300 accounting packages but can also work with bespoke accounts packages. Indeed, speed is essential as the oldest invoices may fall foul of the 6-year time limit.
Once the Sales Ledger Analyses is made available to clients, all that is required is that management decide which commercially sensitive ex-customers to remove from the list and return it to us.
CPA then uses its years of collection experience to explain and recover the Late Payment Compensation Claims. Clients do not handle any part of the recovery process as our team will take all communications from the companies against who the claims has been made. Often, it’s simply a case of explaining the legislation, sometimes we have to go all the way and enforce the legislation through the courts.
The result is that we are realising clients’ claims worth tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds which, of course, is pure net profit. You may also be among the recipients of “hundreds of thousands of pounds” should you elect to take advantage of our services.
We do the work, you receive the cash.
If you have supplied goods and services to businesses on credit and were regularly paid late then you could be due significant sums in late payment compensation.
We are talking to companies and unearthing claims in the hundreds of thousands from former business customers who paid them late. Large business customers who abused their power to inflict unfair and sometimes illegal payment practices.
We are helping business owners who are looking to boost the returns from their business before they retire. We are helping businesses who have lost major clients after years of loyal service to get properly compensated for systematic late payment. We are helping companies that were looking to close down, who looked insolvent and finding that cash injection they need to avoid insolvency.
Those former clients who regularly paid you late can finally be made to pay.
Ready to speak to an advisor?
For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.
Call us today
0330 053 9263
The Credit Protection Association is a credit management company established in 1914. If you supply goods or services on credit then we can help you!
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
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The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections