Legislation may not stop late payments
Tuesday 19th May, 2026
The UK’s proposed measures to tackle late payments may fall short, as R3/Creditsafe data shows overdue invoices rose to 17.48 million in Q1 and 1.57 million UK businesses have overdue bills; insolvency-related activity dipped slightly. This gives Wise a chance to comment on how faster, transparent cross-border payments and account tools can help UK SMEs manage cashflow and avoid costly delays in the UK and across Europe.
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Why have we flagged this?
Rising overdue invoices and critics saying legislation won't fix late payments is directly relevant to small-business cashflow and cross-border payments—Wise can offer data or comment on SME payment behaviour and solutions.
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Thinking...
One in X UK SMEs paid late every week
Quantify how routinely small UK businesses experience late incoming payments.
Data to investigate: Survey your UK SME customers to ask how many late payments they received in the last 7 days.
Why: A simple weekly stat makes the scale of the problem immediate and newsy.
The true cost of late payments to UK SMEs this month
Put a single pound figure on cash trapped in overdue invoices among small businesses right now.
Data to investigate: Survey your UK SME customers to report the total value of invoices currently overdue this month.
Why: A big monthly number in pounds is punchy and easily quotable alongside policy debate.
Half of UK SMEs add ‘late fees’ but rarely collect
Reveal the gap between stated late-payment penalties and what actually gets enforced.
Data to investigate: Survey your UK SME customers to ask if they include late-payment fees and what share they actually recover.
Why: Exposes how power dynamics undermine legislation, offering a fresh, human angle on late payments.