Business news 8 December 2021
James Salmon, Operations Director.
Small business need to be paid on time to achieve strong growth. Work-from-home guidance could return for Christmas. Pay hikes will harm plans to recruit more staff. And more business news.
ICAEW: Small business need to be paid on time to achieve strong growth.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) have reported on an address by the Small Business Commissioner, Liz Barclay. Britain’s 5.7 million small businesses are being held back because instead of being paid within 30 days, they are still waiting 2, 3, 4 even 12 months later.
Small business owners could do a lot better, and help the economy grow much faster if they got paid on time.
Late payments, poor payments practices and extended payment terms are existential. We need to grow confident small firms. They are the talent of the UK. They need the confidence to negotiate better payment terms and get paid fairly so they can invest and grow. The European Commission found that in the UK, 30 per cent of businesses indicated that late payment had links to subsequent redundancies, and outstanding invoices could pay for businesses to hire more than two million people. The longer companies wait for payment, the lower the level of investment they make. Research shows a month delay in being paid reduces capital spend by 1.2 per cent, and could lead to reduced profitability for as long as five years thereafter. There is clear evidence that late payment is linked to an inability to access affordable finance. More than half of small businesses think they’d be able to grow faster if they spent less time on the financial side of the business.
The economic recovery is being held back by poor payments. We’ll all benefit if we can increase the velocity of cash.
Work-from-home guidance could return for Christmas
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Government is considering issuing new guidance to encourage people to work from home over the festive period, with officials carrying out modelling on the likely economic impact of such a move. The paper also says that a split has emerged in the Cabinet as to whether vaccine passports should be introduced for larger and more crowded venues.
Pay hikes will harm plans to recruit more staff, Treasury warns
The Treasury has warned that large pay rises for public sector workers risks driving inflation up further and limiting the prospects of hiring more doctors and teachers. The warning was issued in an evidence submission to the pay review bodies, which are responsible for making recommendations to Government departments on salary increases for public sector workers. The Treasury urged the pay bodies to approach its latest set of recommendations with caution, noting that “public sector earnings growth over the next three years should retain broad parity with the private sector and continue to be affordable.”
Majority of Britain’s financial services exports head to US
A report by TheCityUK has found that the US has overtaken the EU as the leading destination for UK financial services exports after Britain’s trade with the bloc dropped after Brexit
Scammers’ cash to be used to combat fraud
A pilot project will see Lloyds Bank take £7m from the frozen bank accounts of fraudsters and hand it to law enforcement to finance a dedicated scams unit at the City of London Police and a new specialist cyber investigations team. The money will come from accounts linked to scammers where the bank has been unable to trace victims for more than a year.
Pandemic drives billionaires’ wealth higher
A report from the Paris-based World Inequality Lab reveals that the share of global wealth held by the richest 10% of the population now stands at 76% while the poorest half have just 2% of the total. The World Inequality Report said that 2020 saw the wealth of billionaires rise by £3trn – the steepest increase on record, while 100m people sank into extreme poverty.
House price growth highest for 15 years
House prices in the UK grew at the fastest pace in 15 years over the past three months, the Halifax has said. House prices rose 3.4% in the three months to the end of November, the sharpest increase since late 2006, and are 8.2% higher than a year earlier. The average UK property price hit a fresh record high of £272,992 in November, the mortgage lender said. Jan Crosby, head of infrastructure, building and construction at KPMG UK, said: “It appears that house price inflation is entrenched, at least until supply chain issues ease and housing stock finally starts to catch up with demand. It’s a strong market in which sellers continue to have the whip hand. Available property is selling very quickly, but there remains a disparity between the rising prices and purchasing power, with wage rises outstripped by inflation.”
Why should you become a CPA member!
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 some time to come.
CPA eases cash from tardy debtors – Efficiently, Effectively, Economically and Ethically. And we provide credit information so you can monitor and assess your key customers.
Unlike other credit management companies, we charge our members a fixed annual subscription irrespective of how high the debt value is!
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.
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
Get compensated for previous late payments
Have you been paid late by business customers in the last six years?
Maybe you no longer work with them. Under legislation, you are entitled to compensation you for those late payments you have suffered.
You put up with the PAIN – now claim the GAIN!
Claim late payment compensation (LPC) from former business customers who paid you late in the last six years!
CPA (LPC) Recoveries is using our bespoke software and decades of experience to do just that for our clients
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections.