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I first published this on my Blog on 4 November 2021, but I thought this is worth revisiting due to the current problems facing businesses in today’s financial climate. If you’re offering services to clients, you have the choice of whether to request payment up front, allow them to pay on after delivery or set up a payment plan. Many business owners shy away from asking for up-front payment, fearing it will make them

Insolvencies are on the rise. 2023’s company insolvencies were the highest since 1993, with the level of Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations the highest since at least 1960. Company Directors are normally protected from personal liability in these cases — as long as they follow the rules. Failure to do so, however, can have serious consequences. The Rise in Company Insolvencies Over 25,000 companies entered insolvency

Businesses haven’t had it easy over the past few years. Brexit, Covid, international crisis, inflation — they’ve all taken a chunk out of businesses, especially small ones. The recent Budget has made things even more difficult. In a recent survey, nearly a third of business said that they believe they’ll need to make redundancies next year, with a similar number expected to be forced to default on debts. What Has Cau

If you’re a landlord, serious rent arrears can prove inconvenient and annoying, reducing your ability to pay bills and to invest in growth. There are mechanisms to recover rent arrears, but these are different depending on whether the rental is for domestic or commercial purposes. If you need to recover commercial rent arrears, the mechanism is the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery scheme — CRAR for short. What Is CRA

If you’re a small business owner, you don’t need me to tell you that times have been hard for the past few years. It’s easy to assume things are improving now. After all, both inflation and interest rates have been falling this year. Unfortunately, very little of this gain seems to have been passed on to SMEs. So why is this, and what can you do about it? Fall in Inflation and Interest Rates Inflation in the UK hit a

Of the various approaches you can take to recover money owed to you, applying for a bankruptcy against your debtor is perhaps the most extreme. While individuals who owe money they can’t repay may declare themselves bankrupt, a creditor owed more than £5,000 can also apply for a Bankruptcy Order. When to Apply for a Bankruptcy Order You can apply for a Bankruptcy Order if an individual owes you money you can

Late payments constitute one of the biggest threats to the survival of small businesses. Unlike large corporations, most small or micro businesses don’t have the reserves to manage without regular cashflow coming in, and any substantial delay in payment of the money they’re owed could potentially force their closure. Which makes the latest statistics particularly worrying. Figures show that over half of i

Business insolvency figures can provide a valuable clue as to the state of the economy, but the picture isn’t always straightforward. Over the past few years, in particular, figures have sometimes been skewed by the effects of the pandemic. Many failing businesses were artificially propped up by government support, pushing the figures up when they finally entered insolvency. The figures for July 2024 have been

The private rental sector has been volatile for some time, with changing regulations, fast-rising rents and difficulties for landlords, and that doesn’t look like ending any time soon. What with a reduction in the buy-to-let market, further increases in the cost for tenants and uncertainty over what measures the new government might bring in, the whole sector is holding its breath. A Fall in the Buy-to-Let Mark

SMEs may need to access finance for various reasons. Perhaps they have plans for growth requiring money up front, or maybe there’s a delay in their cashflow — a particular problem in recent years, as the scourge of late payments has grown worse. Recent figures, from various sources, have shown both good and bad news about financing small businesses. A Third of SMEs Need Finance to Survive The most alarming figu