Opinion-in-brief: Help SMEs by sorting their cash flow
Small businesses have been hit the hardest by Plan B. The restrictions have been a body blow to many SMEs that continue to face the lingering effects of the pandemic.
A disappointing festive period, mounting Covid debt and soaring prices have pushed many of these businesses to breaking point. The need to tackle the cash flow issues that SMEs face is now urgent.
The UK Government must create real solutions for the liquidity problems that SMEs face – like late and slow invoice payments. Releasing funds locked in the £23.4bn in late invoices owed in the UK would support small businesses’ cash flow, improving their ability to manage the ongoing disruption at no cost to the taxpayer.
SMEs form 99 per cent of the private sector. Clearly getting invoices paid on time must form a central role in the country’s economic recovery if we are to truly “build back better”.