Northern Ireland sees fall in overdue invoices

Northern Ireland has bucked the UK overdue invoice trend as the only UK region or nation to see overdue invoice numbers fall in Q1 2025 when compared to Q1 2024, according to new research from R3, the UK’s insolvency and restructuring trade body.

R3’s analysis of data provided by Creditsafe shows there were 187,502 overdue invoices on the books of Northern Ireland businesses in Q1 2025 – with 62,667 in January, 62,792 in February and 62,043 in March. This was a fall of 3.2% when compared to Q1 2024’s total of 193,729.
Northern Ireland was the only UK region or nation to see overdue invoices fall year-on-year, while the West Midlands, Scotland and the North East saw the largest percentage increases at 46.3%, 41.4% and 21.2% respectively.

Ian Leonard, Chair of R3 in Northern Ireland, said “Northern Ireland businesses have made some progress in improving their payment practices, and that’s reflected in the drop in overdue invoices compared to last year. After rising in January and February, late payment numbers fell in March and are now lower than they were at the end of last year.”

While the total number of overdue invoices fell in Q1 2025, the number of Northern Ireland companies with overdue invoices on their books rose by 4.5%, from 24,473 in Q1 2024 to 25,567 in Q1 2025.

Leonard continued “Whilst it seems counter-intuitive that the number of companies with overdue invoices would rise against a backdrop of total numbers of overdue invoices falling, it needs borne in mind that Northern Ireland continues to see a wave of new businesses with the rate of start-ups exceeding the rest of the UK. These are often small companies availing of a number of initiatives in Northern Ireland to encourage entrepreneurship. This will naturally lead to an increase in the number of companies with overdue invoices and we should take encouragement from the overall reduction in numbers recorded.

“However, a number of cost pressures took effect at the start of this month, including rises in Employers’ National Insurance and the minimum wage and there is concern that these changes could put further strain on businesses.

”Owners of both new and established businesses will need to prepare now for the challenges ahead, whether that’s by reviewing their cash flow, managing costs, or seeking advice if they’re worried about their financial position. Speaking to a qualified professional about your concerns at an early stage can give you more clarity to make the right decisions for the future of your business and may give you more options for resolving your situation.”