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MARCH 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Tackling Bad Payment
Practices At Downing Street
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is took the issue
of late payment and supply chain bullying to a meeting
at Number 10 Downing Street on Tuesday 3rd February.
For the first time a
number of leading businesses from the FTSE
350 and small businesses came together
with Government and
the Confederation of
British Industry (CBI)
to discuss the UK’s
deteriorating payment
culture.
The roundtable hosted by
the Minister for Business
and Enterprise Matthew
Hancock MP, acknowledged the progress made
in bringing issues around
supply chains to light, and
sought consensus on how
to tackle the issue. The
discussions focused on the
boundary between acceptable commercial negotiation, and the exploitation
of suppliers. In addition,
the meeting explored some
of the most problematic
payment practices. The FSB
has been working to raise
the profile of many of these
practices including flat fees,
dubbed ‘pay to stay’, excessively long payment terms
exceeding payment agreements, discounts for prompt
payment and retrospective
discounting.
Crucially the FSB was
looking to find consensus on how Government,
enforcers and business can
best achieve the necessary
culture change to address
the UK’s poor payment
culture. Small firms want
to see the Prompt Payment
Code strengthened, with
signatories to both the PPC
and the Prime Minister’s
Supply Chain Finance initiative paying within 60 days
unless specific conditions
are met.
Recent FSB research
revealed that almost one in
five small businesses had
been subject to some form
of poor payment tactics.
5% had experienced the so
called ‘pay to stay’ practice
used by Premier Foods, who
asked suppliers to pay a flat
fee in order to be considered for future contracts.
John Allan, FSB National
Chairman, said: “We are
finally beginning to see
progress in highlighting
poor payment practises
with Government, opposition parties and big
business recognising that
something has to give. The
issue will not go away by
itself and we hope February’s meeting will lead to
action to resolve the failing
supply chain.
“If we look at late
payment, it’s a massive
problem for small businesses costing them tens
of billions of pounds each
year. If you are waiting for
a payment from your biggest client, it means you
can’t buy in new machinery, hire new staff or in
some cases even pay your
own employees. We know
the Prompt Payment Code
is currently not delivering,
and we want to see a long
term solution to deliver
a better payment culture
agreed upon.”
‘National Sickie Day’
could have cost
employers £34m
The first Monday in February could potentially have cost UK employers
up to £34m in lost productivity, according to a new survey.
Monday 2nd February, the first
Monday of last month, was known
as National Sickie Day as it is
statistically the worst day of the
year for employee absenteeism.
That’s based on research which
showed that as many as 375,000
workers were tempted to call in
sick.
A report by The Fine Bedding Company suggests that, for 38% of UK employees, the weather is the primary reason
for wanting to take the day off work.
The second most popular reason was actually feeling under the weather; with more
than a third of adults currently suffering
with seasonal fatigue, coughs and flu.
Completing the top three excuses was
a hangover, with those completing a ‘dry’
January enjoying a fun-filled weekend of
festivities and feeling a little bit delicate.
Sally Jesson, of The Fine Bedding Company, said: “Post-Christmas blues, seasonal ailments, the wintery weather, financial woes
and a long wait for the next holiday are all
top reasons for the UK’s lack of motivation
to turn into work.”
Last year, business advisors ELAS calculated that British businesses lost a minimum of
£34 million in terms of productivity during
this time period, and figures suggest more
employees were likely to have taken time
off this ‘National Sickie Day’ than in 2014.
Some of the more outlandish excuses for
skipping work on the first Monday of last
month included:
• “I’ve accidently locked myself in the bathroom and I have to wait until someone
with a key to the house can come round
to let me out.”
• “I’ve accidently sent my uniform to the
charity shop so I need to go and buy it
back.”
• “My plastic surgery has gone wrong and I
need to go and get it fixed.”
• “I thought it was a bank holiday and I’m
500 miles away.”
What’s the worst
excuse for ‘pulling
a sickie’ you
have heard?
Get in touch with us via
Twitter @ProInstaller1
or email madelaine@
clearview-uk.com
Source: www.taxassist.co.uk