Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has said the government is committed to dealing with late payments.
Badenoch told the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) that his entire team was committed to improving the situation for SMEs.
“On things like back payments, I know a lot of people care about this issue and I want to stress that so do we,” he said on Thursday (September 21) during a visit to open a new FSB office in Westminster.
Badenoch added that his entire ministerial team was committed to helping with the issue and pointed to the inquiry his department opened earlier this year, according to quotes provided by the FSB.
“We know how essential cash flow is to all of you in terms of your day-to-day lives, and what happens when that is affected. We’re listening. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but we have to do what we can to make sure you see that we’ve handled this issue,” he said.
FSB national chairman Martin McTague said it was “very reassuring” to hear his comments on the late payments, which he described as “a nut that we believe can be broken, with the right political leadership”. .
He added: “FSB has always benefited from strong relationships and open dialogue with ministers.”
As reported Construction news Earlier this year, self-reported payment data from the largest contractors showed that many pay at least a fifth of their invoices late.
Under government proposals submitted to a separate consultation in February to tackle the unreliability of the self-reporting system that was introduced in 2017, companies could be forced to declare the proportion of money they retain in withholding tax the future
They may also be asked to report the number of invoices they are disputing.
A previous government consultation on retentions, which closed in 2018 and found a majority supported the reform, did not result in any changes.
In June, the government refused to back a proposal by Labor MP Debbie Abrahams that would have made project bank accounts compulsory on public works projects worth more than £2m.
Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said at the time: “We do not support dictating the operation of construction contractors to [this] degree.”
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