North West Firms Lead UK in Payment Practices, but Laggards Drag Down Progress

The Numbers

• Companies Analysed: 458
• Average PaymentCheck Score (North West): 65.4/100
• Average PaymentCheck Score (UK): 50.0/100
• North West Advantage: 15.4 points above the UK average.
• Top PaymentCheck Score: 100/100
• Bottom PaymentCheck Score: 13.4/100

What Stands Out

The North West significantly outperforms the UK average in payment practices, yet a wide disparity exists within the region, as evidenced by the bottom payers scoring so low. The Human Resources sector emerges as a clear leader in prompt payments, showing the commitment in that field.

Best Payers

These companies achieved a perfect PaymentCheck score of 100/100, setting the gold standard for payment practices in the North West:

1. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION (U.K.), LTD.
2. RULLION ENGINEERING LIMITED
3. PAYQUEST GROUP LIMITED
4. PAYSTREAM MY MAX HOLDINGS LIMITED
5. PAYSTREAM MY MAX 3 LIMITED

Worst Payers

These companies need to significantly improve their payment practices, as indicated by their low PaymentCheck scores:

1. BESTWAY PHARMACY NDC LIMITED - 13.4/100
2. DONALD WARDLE AND SON LIMITED - 14.6/100
3. CROWN PACKAGING MANUFACTURING UK LIMITED - 15.6/100
4. CROWN PAINTS LIMITED - 17.9/100
5. SLATER & GORDON (UK) 1 LIMITED - 18.37/100

Sector Breakdown

Payment performance varies significantly across different sectors:

• Human Resources: 94.1 average (12 companies)
• Data: 93.8 average (1 company)
• Hardware: 86.4 average (2 companies)
• Train Travel: 85.6 average (1 company)
• Education: 82.4 average (13 companies)

The Human Resources sector, with an average of 94.1, demonstrates exceptional payment behaviour relative to other industries, while the Data sector results should be taken with a grain of salt since this represents only one company.

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One-line takeaway: While the North West's average PaymentCheck score of 65.4 surpasses the UK's 50, the region needs to address the poor payment performance exhibited by the bottom 5 companies, who all score under 20.