Late payment issues still putting SMEs at risk

Problems with late payments, often a contributing factor for businesses entering administration, are still proving to be a problematic issue for small businesses in the UK.

New data from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) found that the rate at which the Government pays its suppliers on time has slowed by 3.5 percentage points since the end of last year. This is the poorest performance seen since September 2011 and poses a serious cash flow issue for companies struggling to keep their heads above water in the protracted economic slowdown.

But while Government contractors may be facing difficulties, the research showed that in actual fact, all other UK sectors showed improved payment times over the past year. Even so, there was still a notable difference between large and small companies' payment rates, with large companies almost twice as likely to pay late than SMEs. The figures showed that 30.9 per cent of bigger firms paid late, compared to 15.1 per cent of SMEs, perhaps due to their understanding of the impact late pay can have on cash flow.

In some cases late payment is threatening a firm's survival due to the pressure it puts on a firm's finances. The previous Government put a system in place entitled the Prompt Payment Code in 2008, which aimed to help small suppliers recover money they were owed. However, take up was low due to the fact that many firms were unwilling to effectively 'name and shame' their customers, in case they damaged their working relationship.



Whoops! There was an error.
ErrorException (E_WARNING)
file_put_contents(/home/bizsale/storage/framework/sessions/vJR7KUj1r8pkaEI89GbO1GeKOyzSercTM9BdUPRw): failed to open stream: No space left on device ErrorException thrown with message "file_put_contents(/home/bizsale/storage/framework/sessions/vJR7KUj1r8pkaEI89GbO1GeKOyzSercTM9BdUPRw): failed to open stream: No space left on device" Stacktrace: #7 ErrorException in /home/bizsale/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Filesystem/Filesystem.php:122 #6 file_put_contents in /home/bizsale/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Filesystem/Filesystem.php:122 #5 Illuminate\Filesystem\Filesystem:put in /home/bizsale/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/FileSessionHandler.php:83 #4 Illuminate\Session\FileSessionHandler:write in /home/bizsale/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/Store.php:128 #3 Illuminate\Session\Store:save in /home/bizsale/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/Middleware/StartSession.php:87 #2 Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession:terminate in /home/bizsale/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Http/Kernel.php:218 #1 Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel:terminateMiddleware in /home/bizsale/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Http/Kernel.php:189 #0 Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel:terminate in /home/bizsale/public_html/index.php:65
Application frames (1) All frames (8)
7
ErrorException
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Filesystem
/
Filesystem.php
122
6
file_put_contents
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Filesystem
/
Filesystem.php
122
5
Illuminate
\
Filesystem
\
Filesystem
put
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Session
/
FileSessionHandler.php
83
4
Illuminate
\
Session
\
FileSessionHandler
write
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Session
/
Store.php
128
3
Illuminate
\
Session
\
Store
save
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Session
/
Middleware
/
StartSession.php
87
2
Illuminate
\
Session
\
Middleware
\
StartSession
terminate
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Foundation
/
Http
/
Kernel.php
218
1
Illuminate
\
Foundation
\
Http
\
Kernel
terminateMiddleware
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Foundation
/
Http
/
Kernel.php
189
0
Illuminate
\
Foundation
\
Http
\
Kernel
terminate
/
public_html
/
index.php
65
/
home
/
bizsale
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Filesystem
/
Filesystem.php
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @return string
     */
    public function hash($path)
    {
        return md5_file($path);
    }
 
    /**
     * Write the contents of a file.
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @param  string  $contents
     * @param  bool  $lock
     * @return int
     */
    public function put($path, $contents, $lock = false)
    {
        return file_put_contents($path, $contents, $lock ? LOCK_EX : 0);
    }
 
    /**
     * Prepend to a file.
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @param  string  $data
     * @return int
     */
    public function prepend($path, $data)
    {
        if ($this->exists($path)) {
            return $this->put($path, $data.$this->get($path));
        }
 
        return $this->put($path, $data);
    }
 
    /**
     * Append to a file.
Arguments
  1. "file_put_contents(/home/bizsale/storage/framework/sessions/vJR7KUj1r8pkaEI89GbO1GeKOyzSercTM9BdUPRw): failed to open stream: No space left on device"
    
/
home
/
bizsale
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Filesystem
/
Filesystem.php
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @return string
     */
    public function hash($path)
    {
        return md5_file($path);
    }
 
    /**
     * Write the contents of a file.
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @param  string  $contents
     * @param  bool  $lock
     * @return int
     */
    public function put($path, $contents, $lock = false)
    {
        return file_put_contents($path, $contents, $lock ? LOCK_EX : 0);
    }
 
    /**
     * Prepend to a file.
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @param  string  $data
     * @return int
     */
    public function prepend($path, $data)
    {
        if ($this->exists($path)) {
            return $this->put($path, $data.$this->get($path));
        }
 
        return $this->put($path, $data);
    }
 
    /**
     * Append to a file.
Arguments
  1. "/home/bizsale/storage/framework/sessions/vJR7KUj1r8pkaEI89GbO1GeKOyzSercTM9BdUPRw"
    
  2. "a:3:{s:6:"_token";s:40:"LaQMoiE7hFEIXeXio5Jdpekc6lO8EisPhI7Ucb6j";s:9:"_previous";a:1:{s:3:"url";s:88:"https://w.workfromhome.co.uk/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993";}s:6:"_flash";a:2:{s:3:"old";a:0:{}s:3:"new";a:0:{}}}"
    
  3. 2
    
/
home
/
bizsale
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Session
/
FileSessionHandler.php
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function read($sessionId)
    {
        if ($this->files->exists($path = $this->path.'/'.$sessionId)) {
            if (filemtime($path) >= Carbon::now()->subMinutes($this->minutes)->getTimestamp()) {
                return $this->files->get($path, true);
            }
        }
 
        return '';
    }
 
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function write($sessionId, $data)
    {
        $this->files->put($this->path.'/'.$sessionId, $data, true);
 
        return true;
    }
 
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function destroy($sessionId)
    {
        $this->files->delete($this->path.'/'.$sessionId);
 
        return true;
    }
 
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function gc($lifetime)
    {
        $files = Finder::create()
Arguments
  1. "/home/bizsale/storage/framework/sessions/vJR7KUj1r8pkaEI89GbO1GeKOyzSercTM9BdUPRw"
    
  2. "a:3:{s:6:"_token";s:40:"LaQMoiE7hFEIXeXio5Jdpekc6lO8EisPhI7Ucb6j";s:9:"_previous";a:1:{s:3:"url";s:88:"https://w.workfromhome.co.uk/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993";}s:6:"_flash";a:2:{s:3:"old";a:0:{}s:3:"new";a:0:{}}}"
    
  3. true
    
/
home
/
bizsale
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Session
/
Store.php
     *
     * @param  string  $data
     * @return string
     */
    protected function prepareForUnserialize($data)
    {
        return $data;
    }
 
    /**
     * Save the session data to storage.
     *
     * @return bool
     */
    public function save()
    {
        $this->ageFlashData();
 
        $this->handler->write($this->getId(), $this->prepareForStorage(
            serialize($this->attributes)
        ));
 
        $this->started = false;
    }
 
    /**
     * Prepare the serialized session data for storage.
     *
     * @param  string  $data
     * @return string
     */
    protected function prepareForStorage($data)
    {
        return $data;
    }
 
    /**
     * Age the flash data for the session.
     *
     * @return void
Arguments
  1. "vJR7KUj1r8pkaEI89GbO1GeKOyzSercTM9BdUPRw"
    
  2. "a:3:{s:6:"_token";s:40:"LaQMoiE7hFEIXeXio5Jdpekc6lO8EisPhI7Ucb6j";s:9:"_previous";a:1:{s:3:"url";s:88:"https://w.workfromhome.co.uk/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993";}s:6:"_flash";a:2:{s:3:"old";a:0:{}s:3:"new";a:0:{}}}"
    
/
home
/
bizsale
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Session
/
Middleware
/
StartSession.php
        if ($this->sessionConfigured()) {
            $this->storeCurrentUrl($request, $session);
 
            $this->addCookieToResponse($response, $session);
        }
 
        return $response;
    }
 
    /**
     * Perform any final actions for the request lifecycle.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @param  \Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response  $response
     * @return void
     */
    public function terminate($request, $response)
    {
        if ($this->sessionHandled && $this->sessionConfigured() && ! $this->usingCookieSessions()) {
            $this->manager->driver()->save();
        }
    }
 
    /**
     * Start the session for the given request.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @return \Illuminate\Contracts\Session\Session
     */
    protected function startSession(Request $request)
    {
        return tap($this->getSession($request), function ($session) use ($request) {
            $session->setRequestOnHandler($request);
 
            $session->start();
        });
    }
 
    /**
     * Get the session implementation from the manager.
/
home
/
bizsale
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Foundation
/
Http
/
Kernel.php
     * @return void
     */
    protected function terminateMiddleware($request, $response)
    {
        $middlewares = $this->app->shouldSkipMiddleware() ? [] : array_merge(
            $this->gatherRouteMiddleware($request),
            $this->middleware
        );
 
        foreach ($middlewares as $middleware) {
            if (! is_string($middleware)) {
                continue;
            }
 
            list($name) = $this->parseMiddleware($middleware);
 
            $instance = $this->app->make($name);
 
            if (method_exists($instance, 'terminate')) {
                $instance->terminate($request, $response);
            }
        }
    }
 
    /**
     * Gather the route middleware for the given request.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @return array
     */
    protected function gatherRouteMiddleware($request)
    {
        if ($route = $request->route()) {
            return $this->router->gatherRouteMiddleware($route);
        }
 
        return [];
    }
 
    /**
Arguments
  1. Request {
      #json: null
      #convertedFiles: null
      #userResolver: Closure {
        class: "Illuminate\Auth\AuthServiceProvider"
        this: AuthServiceProvider { …}
        parameters: {
          $guard: {
            default: null
          }
        }
        use: {
          $app: Application { …}
        }
      }
      #routeResolver: Closure {
        class: "Illuminate\Routing\Router"
        this: Router { …}
        use: {
          $route: Route { …}
        }
      }
      +attributes: ParameterBag {}
      +request: ParameterBag {#1}
      +query: ParameterBag {#1}
      +server: ServerBag {}
      +files: FileBag {}
      +cookies: ParameterBag {}
      +headers: HeaderBag {}
      #content: null
      #languages: null
      #charsets: null
      #encodings: null
      #acceptableContentTypes: array:1 [
        0 => "*/*"
      ]
      #pathInfo: "/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
      #requestUri: "/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
      #baseUrl: ""
      #basePath: null
      #method: "GET"
      #format: null
      #session: Store {}
      #locale: null
      #defaultLocale: "en"
      -isHostValid: true
      -isClientIpsValid: true
      -isForwardedValid: true
      basePath: ""
      format: "html"
    }
    
  2. Response {}
    
/
home
/
bizsale
/
vendor
/
laravel
/
framework
/
src
/
Illuminate
/
Foundation
/
Http
/
Kernel.php
     */
    protected function dispatchToRouter()
    {
        return function ($request) {
            $this->app->instance('request', $request);
 
            return $this->router->dispatch($request);
        };
    }
 
    /**
     * Call the terminate method on any terminable middleware.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Response  $response
     * @return void
     */
    public function terminate($request, $response)
    {
        $this->terminateMiddleware($request, $response);
 
        $this->app->terminate();
    }
 
    /**
     * Call the terminate method on any terminable middleware.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Response  $response
     * @return void
     */
    protected function terminateMiddleware($request, $response)
    {
        $middlewares = $this->app->shouldSkipMiddleware() ? [] : array_merge(
            $this->gatherRouteMiddleware($request),
            $this->middleware
        );
 
        foreach ($middlewares as $middleware) {
            if (! is_string($middleware)) {
Arguments
  1. Request {
      #json: null
      #convertedFiles: null
      #userResolver: Closure {
        class: "Illuminate\Auth\AuthServiceProvider"
        this: AuthServiceProvider { …}
        parameters: {
          $guard: {
            default: null
          }
        }
        use: {
          $app: Application { …}
        }
      }
      #routeResolver: Closure {
        class: "Illuminate\Routing\Router"
        this: Router { …}
        use: {
          $route: Route { …}
        }
      }
      +attributes: ParameterBag {}
      +request: ParameterBag {#1}
      +query: ParameterBag {#1}
      +server: ServerBag {}
      +files: FileBag {}
      +cookies: ParameterBag {}
      +headers: HeaderBag {}
      #content: null
      #languages: null
      #charsets: null
      #encodings: null
      #acceptableContentTypes: array:1 [
        0 => "*/*"
      ]
      #pathInfo: "/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
      #requestUri: "/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
      #baseUrl: ""
      #basePath: null
      #method: "GET"
      #format: null
      #session: Store {}
      #locale: null
      #defaultLocale: "en"
      -isHostValid: true
      -isClientIpsValid: true
      -isForwardedValid: true
      basePath: ""
      format: "html"
    }
    
  2. Response {}
    
/
home
/
bizsale
/
public_html
/
index.php
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Run The Application
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Once we have the application, we can handle the incoming request
| through the kernel, and send the associated response back to
| the client's browser allowing them to enjoy the creative
| and wonderful application we have prepared for them.
|
*/
 
$kernel = $app->make(Illuminate\Contracts\Http\Kernel::class);
 
$response = $kernel->handle(
    $request = Illuminate\Http\Request::capture()
);
 
$response->send();
 
$kernel->terminate($request, $response);
Arguments
  1. Request {
      #json: null
      #convertedFiles: null
      #userResolver: Closure {
        class: "Illuminate\Auth\AuthServiceProvider"
        this: AuthServiceProvider { …}
        parameters: {
          $guard: {
            default: null
          }
        }
        use: {
          $app: Application { …}
        }
      }
      #routeResolver: Closure {
        class: "Illuminate\Routing\Router"
        this: Router { …}
        use: {
          $route: Route { …}
        }
      }
      +attributes: ParameterBag {}
      +request: ParameterBag {#1}
      +query: ParameterBag {#1}
      +server: ServerBag {}
      +files: FileBag {}
      +cookies: ParameterBag {}
      +headers: HeaderBag {}
      #content: null
      #languages: null
      #charsets: null
      #encodings: null
      #acceptableContentTypes: array:1 [
        0 => "*/*"
      ]
      #pathInfo: "/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
      #requestUri: "/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
      #baseUrl: ""
      #basePath: null
      #method: "GET"
      #format: null
      #session: Store {}
      #locale: null
      #defaultLocale: "en"
      -isHostValid: true
      -isClientIpsValid: true
      -isForwardedValid: true
      basePath: ""
      format: "html"
    }
    
  2. Response {}
    

Environment & details:

empty
empty
empty
empty
empty
Key Value
TZ
"UTC"
REDIRECT_REDIRECT_UNIQUE_ID
"aj-MUIVORn37s_xIJ9a-UwAAABE"
REDIRECT_REDIRECT_SCRIPT_URL
"/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
REDIRECT_REDIRECT_SCRIPT_URI
"https://w.workfromhome.co.uk/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
REDIRECT_REDIRECT_HTTPS
"on"
REDIRECT_REDIRECT_SSL_TLS_SNI
"w.workfromhome.co.uk"
REDIRECT_REDIRECT_STATUS
"200"
REDIRECT_UNIQUE_ID
"aj-MUIVORn37s_xIJ9a-UwAAABE"
REDIRECT_SCRIPT_URL
"/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
REDIRECT_SCRIPT_URI
"https://w.workfromhome.co.uk/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
REDIRECT_HTTPS
"on"
REDIRECT_SSL_TLS_SNI
"w.workfromhome.co.uk"
REDIRECT_HANDLER
"application/x-httpd-ea-php71"
REDIRECT_STATUS
"200"
UNIQUE_ID
"aj-MUIVORn37s_xIJ9a-UwAAABE"
SCRIPT_URL
"/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
SCRIPT_URI
"https://w.workfromhome.co.uk/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
HTTPS
"on"
SSL_TLS_SNI
"w.workfromhome.co.uk"
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR
"216.73.217.108"
HTTP_CF_RAY
"a123230dff747fd8-CMH"
HTTP_ACCEPT
"*/*"
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING
"gzip, br"
HTTP_USER_AGENT
"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; [email protected])"
HTTP_CDN_LOOP
"cloudflare; loops=1"
HTTP_CF_IPCOUNTRY
"US"
HTTP_CF_VISITOR
"{"scheme":"https"}"
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO
"https"
HTTP_CONNECTION
"Keep-Alive"
HTTP_HOST
"w.workfromhome.co.uk"
HTTP_X_HTTPS
"1"
PATH
"/usr/local/jdk/bin:/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/root/bin:/opt/bin"
SERVER_SIGNATURE
""
SERVER_SOFTWARE
"Apache"
SERVER_NAME
"w.workfromhome.co.uk"
SERVER_ADDR
"172.31.31.57"
SERVER_PORT
"443"
REMOTE_ADDR
"216.73.217.108"
DOCUMENT_ROOT
"/home/bizsale/public_html"
REQUEST_SCHEME
"https"
CONTEXT_PREFIX
"/cgi-sys"
CONTEXT_DOCUMENT_ROOT
"/usr/local/cpanel/cgi-sys/"
SERVER_ADMIN
"[email protected]"
SCRIPT_FILENAME
"/home/bizsale/public_html/index.php"
REMOTE_PORT
"10532"
REDIRECT_URL
"/index.php"
GATEWAY_INTERFACE
"CGI/1.1"
SERVER_PROTOCOL
"HTTP/1.1"
REQUEST_METHOD
"GET"
QUERY_STRING
""
REQUEST_URI
"/Blogs/late-payment-issues-still-putting-smes-at-risk-193993"
SCRIPT_NAME
"/index.php"
ORIG_SCRIPT_FILENAME
"/usr/local/cpanel/cgi-sys/ea-php71"
ORIG_PATH_INFO
"/index.php"
ORIG_PATH_TRANSLATED
"/home/bizsale/public_html/index.php"
ORIG_SCRIPT_NAME
"/cgi-sys/ea-php71"
PHP_SELF
"/index.php"
REQUEST_TIME_FLOAT
1782549584.6528
REQUEST_TIME
1782549584
argv
[]
argc
0
APP_NAME
"Laravel"
APP_ENV
"local"
APP_KEY
"base64:6coDXzCRsacXGmkPvjvAXO03DG2dJJdkX6rr1+rpvVg="
APP_DEBUG
"true"
APP_LOG_LEVEL
"debug"
APP_URL
"http://localhost"
DB_CONNECTION
"mysql"
DB_HOST
"127.0.0.1"
DB_PORT
"3306"
DB_DATABASE
"bizsale_db"
DB_USERNAME
"bizsale_admin"
DB_PASSWORD
"+fUTe#g#3."
BROADCAST_DRIVER
"log"
CACHE_DRIVER
"file"
SESSION_DRIVER
"file"
SESSION_LIFETIME
"120"
QUEUE_DRIVER
"sync"
REDIS_HOST
"127.0.0.1"
REDIS_PASSWORD
"null"
REDIS_PORT
"6379"
MAIL_DRIVER
"smtp"
MAIL_HOST
"smtp.mailtrap.io"
MAIL_PORT
"2525"
MAIL_USERNAME
"null"
MAIL_PASSWORD
"null"
MAIL_ENCRYPTION
"null"
PUSHER_APP_ID
""
PUSHER_APP_KEY
""
PUSHER_APP_SECRET
""
EMAIL_TESTING
"true"
COMPANIESHOUSE_KEY
"u82ND42fnkdYxqCH945hvlmaflxDPIyT2sMcWLrj"
Key Value
APP_NAME
"Laravel"
APP_ENV
"local"
APP_KEY
"base64:6coDXzCRsacXGmkPvjvAXO03DG2dJJdkX6rr1+rpvVg="
APP_DEBUG
"true"
APP_LOG_LEVEL
"debug"
APP_URL
"http://localhost"
DB_CONNECTION
"mysql"
DB_HOST
"127.0.0.1"
DB_PORT
"3306"
DB_DATABASE
"bizsale_db"
DB_USERNAME
"bizsale_admin"
DB_PASSWORD
"+fUTe#g#3."
BROADCAST_DRIVER
"log"
CACHE_DRIVER
"file"
SESSION_DRIVER
"file"
SESSION_LIFETIME
"120"
QUEUE_DRIVER
"sync"
REDIS_HOST
"127.0.0.1"
REDIS_PASSWORD
"null"
REDIS_PORT
"6379"
MAIL_DRIVER
"smtp"
MAIL_HOST
"smtp.mailtrap.io"
MAIL_PORT
"2525"
MAIL_USERNAME
"null"
MAIL_PASSWORD
"null"
MAIL_ENCRYPTION
"null"
PUSHER_APP_ID
""
PUSHER_APP_KEY
""
PUSHER_APP_SECRET
""
EMAIL_TESTING
"true"
COMPANIESHOUSE_KEY
"u82ND42fnkdYxqCH945hvlmaflxDPIyT2sMcWLrj"
0. Whoops\Handler\PrettyPageHandler