While the South East boasts a significantly higher average payment score than the rest of the UK, the gulf between the best and worst payers is stark. The Financial Services sector leads the way, but its dominance could be because it has the most companies surveyed (71), which is far more than Human Resources in second place (12).
These five companies earned a perfect 100/100 PaymentCheck Score, indicating exemplary payment practices:
It's worth noting that achieving a perfect score isn't necessarily indicative of a specific industry, as the list is quite diverse.
These companies demonstrate concerning payment behaviours, with scores hovering just above 10/100. Payment practices for these companies may cause stress for their suppliers:
The prevalence of catering companies on this list suggests potential systemic issues within that sector in the South East. If late payments are impacting your business, late payment calculator can help you work out what you're owed.
The Financial Services sector has the highest average PaymentCheck score at 84.0, followed closely by Human Resources at 83.9. Education, Care Services and Energy trail behind with scores of 79.5, 78.5, and 75.7 respectively. The wide divergence suggests some sectors are prioritising timely payments more effectively than others.
While South East businesses overall score 17.3 points above the UK average, the bottom five payers' average score of just 11.7 highlights the need for continued improvement and transparency in payment practices.
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