According to Bacs Payments Schemes Limited (Bacs) small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) are now owed £25.9 billion. This is apparently due to a 40% increase in overdue payments over the last year.

According to their research

the national average of outstanding payments was in £38,000 (£30,000 in 2007)
overdue invoices in the Midlands were the highest at £69,000
57% of businesses are owed money (up from 51%)
manufacturing had the highest rate of late payments being 65% and
the most common cause of late payments was cash flow issues.

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