The government's pledge to settle invoices from SMEs within ten days is not being kept, according to new research.
A survey from credit reference agency Graydon UK suggests that 98 per cent of SMEs that deal with the government are not having their invoices paid within 10 days. More than 60 per cent are still having to wait more than 30 days for settlement.
The 10-day pledge was part of a raft of measures aimed at easing cashflow for SMEs through the recession. It is also part of the government's attempts to increase SME access to government procurement. But the latest figures show virtually no improvement on Graydon's last survey, conducted in March 2009, in which 99 per cent of respondents said they were not paid within 10 days.
Martin Williams, Graydon UK managing director, said, "The sentiment underlying the government's pledge to radically curtail payment periods in the public sector is laudable but unfortunately it's now apparent that Ministerial willpower hasn't been enough to inject more speed into the machinery of the public sector."
There has been no comment from the government as yet. Any knock to business confidence in government could have drastic results for the Labour Party, which now finds itself fighting an election based largely on business and the economy.
