Business support and lobby group, the Forum of Private Business, is set to give evidence at a cross party Parliamentary inquiry into late payment at the Houses of Parliament on 23 April.
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams will chair the meeting and will examine how serious the problem has got for SMEs. In addition, the meeting will look at other issues around poor payment practices, including so called 'invoice haircutting'.
Evidence will be heard from four panels, one of which will comprise business groups including the Forum. The other groups will be formed of representatives from FTSE listed companies, suppliers and business and economics experts.
Each panel will be questioned for around 40 minutes by parliamentarians on the scale of late payments; the impact of late payments on SMEs and the wider economy; the effectiveness of current payment systems and tools, including the Prompt Payment Code; and their recommendations on further steps needed to address late payments.
The Forum's head of policy, Alex Jackman, said: 'Late and slow payment amounts to little more than supply chain abuse. That is big business bullying small firms to boost their own profit margins.
'We know from recent high profile examples that the situation, far from improving, is spiralling out of control. Hopefully this investigation can shine a light on the issue and expose the real and serious problems it causes small business.
Mr Jackman continued: 'In the current climate, with access to credit tight for so many small firms, it is a destructive and debilitating practice which threatens the existence of small firms and therefore jobs as well.
'There are so many issues that need to be discussed. The fact so many big name businesses who take 90 days and longer to pay have signed the PPC, for example, has to be looked at. We think there's a strong case for the terms of the Code to be tightened up.
'We would also like to debate the alarming and rapid development of invoice haircutting, particularly those examples when increased payment times are involved.'
