The UK's Life Sciences and Medical Technology sector demonstrated a healthier payment performance than the national average in 2021, but significant disparities between companies and regions reveal underlying issues.
While the sector comfortably exceeds the UK average, the spread of scores suggests a two-tiered system. The dominance of the Medicines Discovery Catapult organisations in the top payer list implies that publicly funded or quasi-public bodies are setting a high standard.
The North West emerged as the strongest performing region, with an average of 71.1 across 12 companies. London, despite housing over twice the number of firms (26), lagged behind at 63.2, suggesting location isn't necessarily indicative of payment conduct. The sample sizes in Wales (5), West Midlands (4) and Northern Ireland (3) mean their averages of 67.2, 66.2 and 63.9 respectively, must be treated cautiously.
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Despite an overall average 11.1 points above the national PaymentCheck Score, the presence of companies scoring as low as 22.7 indicates that late payment problems stubbornly persist for some suppliers in the Life Sciences and MedTech sector.
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