Intrum Justitia, Europe’s leading credit management company, has provided further evidence of poor payment practices in the UK following the publication of their latest quarterly European Payment Survey. The index uses data from nearly 30,000 companies in UK, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland and revealed that payment behaviour in the UK are amongst the worst in Europe.
The research revealed that whilst average credit terms for UK companies are 34 days, actual payment experience was18 days longer, totalling 52 days. Only Italy posted longer late payment days outstanding at 19 days.
Intrum Justitia has tracked payment behaviour in Europe since 1997 and reports no change in the underlying problem. This is despite the European Union Directive on late payment drawn up in 2000 and currently being implemented across Europe, which essentially enables companies to penalise trade debtors for late payment.
