Operating at pace to year end
How did we get to be in the final quarter of 2026? It’s been a big and busy year on the ‘getting to prompt payment’ front and yesterday we came together as a team to plan and ready the Office for introduction of the Commercial Payments Bill.
This newsletter covers what you can expect to see from us in the final months of the year.
Casework
Anyone who has heard me speak in 2026 will know we are working to recover late paid amounts on behalf of small businesses that exceed our annual budget. This was achieved in the 2025/26 financial year with £1.55m recovered against a budget of £1.23m. The casework team has increased from a dynamic duo to now a team of three amigos (Isobel, Amanda, Darren) and they are working at speed to respond to submitted cases of late payment and get money that’s owed, paid. The target in this financial year is to recover more than £1.6m in view of an increased budget. The team has already passed the £1m milestone. If you have a late payment from a big business (50+ employees), contact us here.
Fair Payment Code
Another milestone reached has been welcoming the 800th business onto the Fair Payment Code. This is the Code that showcases good payment practice, and it has been a delight to see big businesses join this year including Sage, Xero, Intuit, GSK, NatWest, Barclays, Balfour Beatty, Siemens and more. The A-team managing the Code (Hollie, Jen, Tia) are in active discussions with other large companies and we announce new awardees every week. Companies of any size can apply here.
Content
The team produces content on a daily basis; from short-form videos offering progress updates on the Bill, articles for small business partner websites and trade publications, webinars with payment guests, and more. This will continue, covering topics including how to contract well to get paid on time, the role of AI in speeding up payments, and special focus pieces for dedicated groups such as investors/asset managers with a message to review payment performance before making investments.
Commercial Payments Bill
The Bill is rapidly making its way through Parliament and you can expect to see communications from us with a message to small businesses to ‘know your rights’ when new measures are introduced of maximum 60 day payment terms and automatic application of interest on late invoices. We are working with large businesses and their procurement platforms to ensure systems are ready to operate according to new payment terms.
This is being delivered by a growing team. When the Bill was introduced in the King’s Speech earlier this year, there were understandable requests to ensure the Office is sufficiently resourced to exercise new powers when they come into effect. With thanks to Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, the team is expanding in the next six months, in readiness.
We continue on our mission to make life easier for small firms by getting money moving faster through the economy. Thank you for your interest in this work and I hope we can deliver for businesses, freeing up time currently spent chasing invoices, to instead be spent on growth.
Emma