Late-Paying Big U.K. Firms to Be Named Under New System: Times

(Bloomberg) -- A traffic-light warning system that names late-paying large firms will be unveiled this week by the U.K.’s small business commissioner Paul Uppal, the Sunday Times reported.

A red light will be shown to repeated offenders as well as to those that don’t publish their payment terms, the newspaper said, without giving more details.

Despite obligations to report their payment practices twice a year since 2017, many big companies have yet to publish them, according to the newspaper. The plan is an effort to reduce the number of late payments, which the Federation of Small Businesses estimates “causes about 50,000 businesses to fail every year,” it says.

The U.K.’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee in December highlighted large construction firms as among the worst culprits and recommended they sign up to the Prompt Payment Code, which sets standards for payment practices and best practice.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Hirai in London at jhirai3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ven Ram at vram1@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis, Kevin Costelloe

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