04 Oct 2023The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has welcomed the government's recent announcement at the Conservative Party conference in regard to combatting late payments. The government announced tougher measures to tackle late payments to small businesses in the UK. It said that in 2022, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were owed, on average, £22,000 in late payments. In order to tackle the issue, the government will extend and improve the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017. It will also outline measures to tackle late payments in the upcoming Prompt Payment and Cashflow review. Martin McTague, National Chair of the FSB, stated that the new plans 'mark the next step to tackling late payments'. He continued: 'We hope it's the prelude to more fundamental reform to come. 'At a time when our community has contracted by 10%, and with high inflation aggravating cashflow problems, we believe that bigger changes will be needed around audit committees and looking to other countries' approach to mandating 30-day business-to-business payments.'