Tories delay payments to small firms as PM tells bosses: 'We've got your back'

Tory ministers are breaking their own guidelines on paying small businesses on time, research revealed today

Analysis by Labour showed 10 Whitehall departments failed to meet deadline targets for paying small firms money they were owed in the 2021-22 financial year.

Shadow Business Minister Seema Malhotra said: “This is yet another example of a government that treats small businesses as an afterthought because they do not understand the reality businesses in Britain are facing.

“Whether it’s on business rates, rising energy prices, or late payments, the Tories are failing small businesses.”

The Government’s “prompt payment policy” commits every department to paying 90% of undisputed and valid invoices from small and medium-sized companies within five days.

Shadow Business Minister Seema Malhotra (Surrey Advertiser)

But figures show the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy; the Cabinet Office; the Department for Education, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; the Department for Levelling-up, Housing and Communities; the Treasury; the Home Office; the Ministry of Justice; the Department for Transport; and the Northern Ireland Office all missed the 90% target in the 2021-22 financial year.

The number of ministries missing the benchmark dropped to seven in the first three months of the 2022-23 period.

The study came as Rishi Sunak took questions from business leaders in a bid to regain traditional Tory territory lost to Labour.

The Prime Minister wanted to outline how the Government was trying to increase opportunities for the private sector to boost economic growth (PA)

Addressing a gathering of 200 high-profile chief executives, the Prime Minister said: "If there's one overarching message that I want all of you and everyone watching to take away from today it is this.

“We want businesses small and large to know that this Government has got your back."

A Government spokeswoman said: “This Government is a champion of small businesses and the most recent figures show 13 of 16 government departments paid at least 95% of their invoices within 30 days, with five achieving in excess of 99%.

“Building on progress already made to reduce the average time taken to pay an invoice by top government suppliers, the Procurement Bill will ensure that the entire public sector supply chain pay businesses within 30 days.”

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