I have been campaigning against late payments since 2011 after a local haulier came to see me to tell me about the difficulties he was having getting paid promptly by one of the big supermarket chains. When I investigated, in my capacity as MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, I was staggered to see how endemic late payment was, not just locally, but across the entire country. 

Four out of five companies, across all sectors, experience late payments and are owed money, with 68% having to write off bad debt. One in three small businesses say late payments are forcing them to rely on bank overdrafts to keep up with overheads, with more than a quarter saying late payments are forcing them to pay their own suppliers late. Collectively, small businesses were owed £14bn in late payments last year. 

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