BEIS Select Committee backs AAT on late payment changes
5 December 2018
Earlier today, the Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee of MPs published its report into small businesses and productivity.
The report included the issue of late payments and has backed the longstanding campaign of AAT that makes three recommendations for change:
- Make the Prompt Payment Code compulsory for companies with over 250 employees
- Halve maximum payment terms from 60 to 30 days
- Introduce a financial penalty regime for persistent late payers, enforced by the Small Business Commissioner
The BEIS report states:
“We recommend that the Government moves as soon as possible to require all medium and large companies to sign the Prompt Payment Code and quickly adopts a statutory limit of paying within 30 days.”
The report later adds:
“We recommend that the Government legislates as quickly as possible to give the Small Business Commissioner powers to fine companies who pay late…”
Phil Hall, AAT Head of Public Affairs & Public Policy, said:
The fact the BEIS Select Committee has finally made the same recommendations to Government that AAT has been campaigning for over the last 12 months is testament to the recommendations' likely effectiveness as well as the strength of the AAT campaign.
The support from the BEIS Select Committee builds on that previously secured from the SNP, Green and Liberal Democrat parties and various big hitters from the Conservative and Labour parties who have already publicly backed our campaign. The pressure is now on Government to deliver these changes and eradicate the scourge of late payments.
