The Business and Enterprise minister will host a workshop looking at how businesses can create better cash flow management systems and change the culture of late payments.

The Business and Enterprise minister will host a workshop looking at how businesses can create better cash flow management systems and change the culture of late payments.

Mark Prisk is meeting with a range of industry bodies to agree on a ‘revised action plan’ centring around measures such as extending the Prompt Payment Code and actively promoting best practice.

Prisk says, ‘By looking at which business sectors have good practice and those that don’t we can start to identify where practical improvements can be made and understand the behaviours that lead to a culture of late payment.

‘I am determined to help businesses change the culture of late payment by encouraging them to make sure they are paying invoices correctly and on time.’

Prisk says that legislation alone cannot do enough to enforce prompt payment of suppliers, with ‘practical, business-focussed solutions’ needed to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in particular and make sure they are paid promptly.

He adds, ‘One of the most important steps is for businesses to formally agree terms of payments before transactions and stick to these terms. Simple practical measures can help SMEs make great strides in securing the cash flow that will help them thrive and grow.’

The workshop will include participants from the Forum of Private Business, the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Credit Management (ICM).

More than 1,000 larger businesses have already signed up to the government’s Prompt Payment Code, which promotes best practice between organisations and suppliers and is managed by the ICM.

See also: Late payment claims brought forward