Getting fit for the future

With the Commercial Payments Bill rapidly making its way through Parliament, the Office of the Small Business Commissioner is working at a similar pace to ensure it’s ready and mobilised for when new laws come into effect. Proposed new powers for the Office include the ability to adjudicate on behalf of small firms who are not getting paid on time, through to investigating and potentially fining late paying culprits.

This newsletter updates on resource change and new hires. Please consider applying for a role if you would like to contribute to the mission of making life easier for small firms by getting money moving through the economy.

Led by a senior civil servant

For the first time in its history, the Office will be headed up by a Deputy Director, which is a senior level in the civil service. This position is being taken on by Carlo Gibbs who has ably been in role as Chief of Staff for the past three years and is well placed to lead the organisation into its next phase of delivery and enforcement.

Scaling the team

The existing Office is home to a small and mighty team of 14 people who work each day to produce content and comms, respond to payment cases, manage the Fair Payment Code, and ensure good governance throughout. This team is about to grow with open roles being:

• Senior Policy and Project Delivery Lead – ‘You will head a small, dedicated team responsible for the Fair Payment Code, take the lead on the Commissioner’s policy programme and manage often complex payment-related projects. This is an exceptional opportunity to influence corporate payment behaviours, engage directly with major industry stakeholders, and protect the financial health of the UK’s small business community.’
• Policy and Projects Officer – ‘The team’s go-to resource for gathering qualitative and quantitative data. You will drive the day-to-day coordination of high-profile projects. This includes tracking research across the payment landscape, managing logistics for industry roundtables, and coordinating national outreach events.’
• Head of Enforcement and Casework – ‘To provide strategic and operational leadership for the OSBC’s casework, investigations, and enforcement functions.’
• Finance, Business Support and Governance Lead – ‘Leadership to OSBC’s finance, business support and governance functions, ensuring strong financial management, effective corporate support and robust assurance across the organisation.’

We have already welcomed a new caseworker to the part of the team that supports small firms who contact us asking for help in getting late monies paid. Welcome, Darren!

As many stakeholders have commentated, the Office needs to be well run and resourced in order to realise the full benefits of new legislation. This has been heard and is being actioned. With sincere thanks to support from Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

Emma