South East Businesses Outpace UK Average on Payments, But Wide Disparities Persist

The Numbers

• We looked at payment practices of 1000 companies in the South East of England during 2021.
• The average PaymentCheck Score for these companies was 67.7 out of 100.
• This is significantly higher than the UK average of 50.0, a difference of 17.7 points.
• The best possible score achieved was 100, and the lowest 2.5.
• Financial Services had the highest number of represented companies at 74, achieving an average score of 87.2.
• Waterways Travel sector, consisting of only one company, scored highest at 97.5.

What Stands Out

While the South East performs well overall, the large gap between the top and bottom payers suggests significant inconsistency in payment practices across the region. A single Waterways Travel company skewing the sector results highlights the need for caution when interpreting sector-level data based on limited samples.

Best Payers

These companies achieved a perfect PaymentCheck score of 100/100, indicating consistent and timely payments:

1. PARTNERSHIP LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED
2. INTERBAY ML, LTD
3. GE HEALTHCARE UK LIMITED
4. PREMIER FUND MANAGERS LIMITED
5. SANTANDER CONSUMER (UK) PLC

Worst Payers

These companies struggled with payment performance, achieving very low PaymentCheck scores:

1. ADARE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED - 2.5/100
2. PUBLIC RESTAURANT PARTNER LIMITED - 6.9/100
3. PRINCIPAL CATERING CONSULTANTS LIMITED - 7.9/100
4. ABSOLUTELY CATERING LIMITED - 9.1/100
5. VACHERIN LIMITED - 10.1/100

Sector Breakdown

The Financial Services sector, with an average score of 87.2 across 74 companies, shows a generally strong payment culture. The Education sector, represented by 46 companies, also performed well with an average score of 81.9. It's worth noting that the Human Resources sector had an average score of 82.4 based on data from 10 companies, suggesting reasonable but not exceptional payment practices.

Are you waiting too long to be paid? Use our late payment calculator to see what you could be claiming.

While South East companies, on average, beat the UK’s payment performance by 17.7 points, the fact that ADARE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED scored only 2.5 out of 100 demonstrates payment problems remain for some.