Late payments impact mental health of business owners

Research jointly conducted by Federal Management and Frontline Collections has found that 79% of small business owners say that their mental health suffered as a result of business late payments.

The majority of smallest businesses (less than 5 employees) said they are constantly worrying about not being paid at all.

A further 41% said that late payment had caused them issues outside of work. these owners complained of stress from financial worries leading to insomnia, depression and adverse effects on their personal relationships because of late paymentsweighing heavily on their minds.

Whilst 48% of the surveyed small business owners saying they are not sure whether their businesses will still be trading this time next year.

The survey also found that 66% of SME owners have already had to supplement their Small Businesses cash flow with the use of personal funds. This includes many that have had to re-mortgage their homes and cash in pension policies.

Marc Curtis-Smith, Managing Director at Federal Management said “Every day we receive calls from beleaguered Small Business Owners at the end of their tether. People are deliberately not paying them and we totally understand their frustrations”

“The UK media tends to focus on those in debt and rarely spares a consideration for those on the other end of the spectrum; the people who are actually owed money and suffering the ramifications of such. It is entirely unjust and unfair. This is why we are so passionate about helping Small Businesses by way of recovering debts where possible and as quickly as possible”