Mental health cost of late payments
Research reveals human cost of late payments
Late payments are hitting the mental health of small business owners, according to research published today (20 January 2020) by Pay.UK, which runs the Bacs Direct Credit and Direct Debit payment services.
More than a quarter (26 per cent) of SME business owners stress about late payments even when they are not at work; 17 per cent say that payment delays undermine their own confidence in their ability to run a business and 16 per cent worry about the issue every working day.
Two thirds (66 per cent) report that late payments make running a business less enjoyable while almost one in ten (nine per cent) of business owners have considered accessing professional support to help with their anxieties over being paid late.
And that’s as more SMEs report being paid late (54 per cent) than at any time since 2015 (55 per cent), with a total late payments bill of £23 billion this year – up from £13 billion in 2018.
Said Paul Horlock, CEO of Pay.UK
Late payment consequences which undermine the emotional wellbeing of SME owners include: paying their own suppliers late (24 per cent), relying on overdrafts (35 per cent), cutting their own salaries to keep cash in their business (24 per cent), difficulties paying their own staff on time (12 per cent) and struggling to pay business bills (13 per cent).
Comments made during the research by small business owners regarding the emotional impact that delayed payments have include: