Government misses payment targets - CPA | The Credit Protection Association

The government has made a pledge to be a model payer and settle 80% of its invoices within five days days and the rest within 30 days.

But latest figures show those targets have been missed.

Despite criticising Big Businesses who regularly pay suppliers late, the figures show the Government is not much better.

Latest data for the second quarter of the 2018/19 financial year shows 75.1% of invoices were paid within five days and 88.8% within 30 days.

The Cabinet Office is supposedly leading a crackdown on late payment in the private sector, so its lack of performance has sparked an outcry from the opposition.

Labour’s Shadow Minister for Cabinet Office, Jon Trickett MP, said: “The Cabinet Office has failed to get a grip on this important issue despite talking tough, and this is simply not good enough.

“Labour will overhaul procurement and ensure that government departments, and firms that receive public money to deliver goods or services, meet strict payment performance targets.”

CPA’s view

CPA is not surprised at the governments hypocrisy. The late payment culture is deeply ingrained in the British business culture.

Late payment is a disease that spreads super fast. One company pays late, then its suppliers get cash flow problems so they pay their suppliers late. Those suppliers in turn pay late, so on and so forth.

IN CPA’s view, the only solution to solving late payment is to make suppliers believe that paying late is not in their interest. When paying suppliers late becomes the most expensive way of boosting cash flow, suppliers will switch to alternative cash flow solutions. This can be achieved through retrospective action. When existing legislation is actually applied, paying late becomes quite expensive.

Even if suppliers hold off on applying the legislation while their customer remains a customer. They can still go back and apply for compensation after the relationship ends.

CPA is helping suppliers get compensated for late payment. The late payment culture can be broken.

CPA’s late payment compensation department can help you fight the late payment culture. Contact us to find out how.

How CPA can help

CPA is a credit management company that can also help with your current late paid invoices.

At the Credit Protection Association,we provide a suite of credit management services to help you avoid and deal with late payers.

We provide first class credit information that can help you avoid being over extended to customers who are at risk.

We regularly publish lists of the latest insolvencies but by then it is too late. Our credit reports predict approximately 96% of insolvencies long before they arrive.

Our debt recovery services also chase down late payers, resolving over 80% of debts referred, recovering money that our members can use to boost their cashflow.

Our members have used this extra cash to invest in additional materials, new staff, extra equipment or new technology, to boost their business.

At the same time, our credit checks and credit reports are utilised by our members to investigate all suppliers and customers. It is important to scrutinise everyone within your business, to ensure their financial history will show no bad payment behaviour or maltreatment of suppliers. Our reports help avoid bad payers or being over extended to a customer beyond their means.

We come across business owners who have decided to scale back their businesses and stop selling on credit because the hassles were not worth it.

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.