Chasing late payments is one of the most frustrating parts of running a small business.

More than simply an inconvenience, unpaid invoices can prevent businesses from growing – or even plunge them into debt.

17% of all payments in the UK are made late…

…while nearly 10% are eventually written off as bad debt. These rates give the UK the dubious honour of having the world’s highest proportion of late payments.

For self-employed business owners and SMEs, unpaid bills can represent a large part of the overall business book. According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), more than four in five companies are paid late.

What can I do about it?

Chasing unpaid invoices wastes time which could be spent making further money. Knock-on effects can include staff pay cuts and reduced future investments in the business, while owners worry about straining relationships with clients who may not commission future work.

But these worries can be turned around to help you address the causes of unpaid invoices and take control of the situation…

• Save precious time
  Alan Laing from Sage, a cloud-based accounting and financial platform, says harnessing technology to automate the process can claw back precious hours lost to making endless calls and emails.

  “Automatic and digital payment methods, such as direct debit and e-invoicing, can make payments as simple as one click for your customers and virtually eliminate the top obstacles to getting paid on time,” he writes. 

Clunky paper-based systems have been cited as a predominant reason for late payment at the customers end, so replacing these processes with automation could streamline the process for everyone. 

• Use resources to prepare
  The Prompt Payment Code (PPC) was set up by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and backed by the Government. Businesses which sign up agree to pay suppliers on time, give clear guidance to suppliers and encourage good practice around payment. Since 2017, large organisations have been required by the government to report on their payment practices.

  “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and this Government’s Industrial Strategy is building a Britain in which they can continue to thrive”, said Andrew Griffiths MP. 

“Alongside the Code, businesses can use the newly introduced Payment Practices reporting website to find out more information about the payment behaviour of larger businesses.”

• Address the relationship issue
  It’s important to challenge the mindset that you don’t have the right to chase owed payments, or that doing so will strain your client relationships. This culture needs to change, starting with the mentality of SME owners.

  SMEs play an important part in the economy, with businesses of all sizes benefiting from their growth. If your clients don’t pay you, you may retain their business but without politely challenging this behaviour you won’t win their respect, and will keep yourself in a cycle of non-payment.

For information on how Trade Credit Insurance could help protect your business book, or for more information on SME insurance, talk to CCS Insurance Services today.

Many people allow their children to access their personal computers, tablets or mobile phones at home. Even if the kids use their own personal devices, these are linked to the family network and can easily be connected to each other. But what happens if they access or download something they shouldn’t?

You might know not to open that email, but your child may not. If they click a malicious link, it could infect their device with a virus. If they then connect their device to yours, your device may get infected. From there, you could bring your device into your workplace and connect it to your work systems, creating a widespread problem.

The best way to prevent this risk is to educate your children on the best ways to practice computer safety and ensure you have protection in place to mitigate the risks.

Establish the boundaries
Work with your children together to draw up an agreement which you all aim to stick with. This will detail what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour online, what is safe to download and what they should avoid.

For example:

Downloads

This will give your children something to cross-reference back to, and as they’ve had an input into the agreement, they should be more likely to stick to it.

Avoid pirate sites
Not only is downloading content from pirate sites illegal and classified as theft, but it’s also an incredibly risky move for your computer’s security. When content is downloaded, a whole host of malware could be downloaded with it. Advise children to avoid sites of this nature altogether.

Be involved
Keep an active interest in your children’s online activity. Have a chat with them to establish what they do online and find out which sites they usually go on. This needn’t be intrusive, just sit with them and offer any guidance and support if you see anything that could catch them out.

Take advantage of privacy settings
If there are certain devices which you really don’t want your children to access, such as a work mobile, add a lock to these or take advantage of fingerprint, face recognition or retina security.

For any device your children can access, work with the settings you have to make the device as safe as possible. Check out the controls your device has in its settings. iOS devices allow you to restrict certain features, so you can stop your child from accessing any restricted apps. You can even create hidden folders of any restricted apps that you can’t delete.

For Android users, explore setting up a family link account which enables you to choose the apps your child has access to and notifies you on the apps they’re using most frequently during the week.  This also allows you to put restrictions on other areas, including:

• Safe search controls
• App permissions
• Download and purchase controls
• Password management

Put them in charge
Once you’re confident what your child understands is acceptable online, equip them with the knowledge to make their own stand. Show them how to flag or report inappropriate content and teach them what actions to take if they’re faced with difficult content online. This will give them the confidence to deal with it themselves and be aware of their own actions online.

Keep the lines of communication open
With digital space consistently growing and evolving, keep the conversation going with your children. Even with all the right settings in place, something can still slip through the net, whether that’s due to a missed app or leaving your desktop unlocked in error. Be aware that nothing is watertight in digital space, so stay vigilant.

With that in mind, should something go wrong, it’s important to have protection in place if you’re affected by a cyber-attack. Whether you’re self-employed and reliant on your family network and devices or if you’re a corporation concerned with cybersecurity, we can help you get covered against the risk of malware, data breaches and other criminal activity.

Simply give CCS Insurance Services a call on 01483 726777 to find out more.