Letter from the Minister

It’s been a little over 2 weeks since the government published its response to the late payment consultation and attention has turned to how firms, small and large, can ready for the proposed changes that will hopefully come into effect from next year.

I felt this was the right time to share a letter sent by Blair McDougall MP, Minister for Small Business and Economic Transformation, to CEOs and CFOs of large companies, on how to be on the right side of new payment laws.

In the letter, the Minister says:

‘I want you to be ready for these changes by taking action now. You should ensure that:

• Your payment terms with suppliers are a maximum of 60 days, unless using strictly limited exemptions.
• You are paying all suppliers on time, and your payment systems are ready to track and pay interest on all late payments.
• You are reporting twice yearly on your payment performance (as legally required for large companies under the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017).
• You are including payment performance headlines in your annual report (as legally required for large companies from January 2026).

For businesses that are already reporting as required, and who already pay suppliers quickly and on time, our reforms will not significantly increase regulatory burden or costs.’

Please have a read of the letter – it takes only 2 minutes.

I’m keen that as we near the introduction of new legislation small business owners know what the changes mean for company cashflow and relationships with larger clients.  Future post to follow on how ‘large company’ is defined for the purposes of late payment and across other official government statistics.