Thursday 16th July, 2015

According a poll by YouGov along with technology company FreeAgent, 13% of micro-businesses (with fewer than 10 employees) had to wait a year or more for payment. While 46% had waited more than eight weeks for money they were owed.

The survey of 500 micro-businesses found almost a third of respondents said they wait for a month or more after their payment deadline has passed before chasing up an unpaid invoice.

Only 28% said they would chase an invoice within the first week after it was due.

Ed Molyneux, CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent said: "research shows that many UK micro-business owners face real problems when it comes to getting paid on time. We also found that many micro-business owners are waiting for months before they chase an unpaid invoice, and that’s really too long."

"We know that it can be awkward to chase clients and ask them for money, but if you don’t follow up with late payers from the moment that their invoice is overdue, they may not see the urgency in paying you. And that means you may be stuck waiting for months - or in extreme cases even years - to get paid what you’re owed."