Tuesday 11th December, 2012

Experian reveals that the difference between the late payment times of the largest firms (over 1,000 employees) and the smallest firms (up to 25 employees) has improved significantly, falling by almost nine days during this four year period, driven by better payment behaviour amongst the UK’s biggest companies. 

The new research by Experian looked at payment performance for UK companies between December 2008 - when the Prompt Payment Code (PPC) was launched - and November 2012.

When Experian examined payment performance by company size, whilst the UK’s largest companies were paying on average 25 days slower compared to smaller companies in December 2008, despite smaller companies paying at the same speed now as 4 years ago, the difference is now just 16 days as a result of the improvements made by the larger companies.

The data indicates that PPC has had a positive effect on payment times. Experian reviewed the difference between the average payment times of signatories and non-signatories to the Code over each of the last four years. It found that on average those who had signed up to the Code paid five days earlier that those who had not.

Max Firth, UK Managing Director for Experian’s Business Information Services division, said: “Since the launch of the Prompt Payment Code, it is encouraging to see that PPC signatories are paying on average five days faster than non-signatories, showing a real shift in payment culture. The UK’s biggest firms have made significant progress in terms of improvement to their payment times compared to their smaller counterparts.

He added: “Although they have made significant improvements the very nature of the way large businesses are structured – hundreds of suppliers, multi-sites, multi-departments, stringent processes – makes it difficult for them to be agile when it comes to paying as fast as smaller more flexible businesses.