The Commercial Payments Bill has had its second reading in the House of Lords.
The response was generally supportive with Lords acknowledging the need to protect small businesses from late payments.
Concerns were raised by peers about the following:
❓ Whether the mandatory 60 day payment terms could become accepted payment terms rather than a genuine deadline
❓ Whether the mandatory payment term should instead be 45 days
❓ Whether international trade (imports and exports) should be excluded from the Bill [this was the intention stated in the King’s Speech introducing the Bill]
❓ Whether small businesses will feel able to use the powers in the Bill or whether they will fear damaging the relationship with their customers [if small businesses don’t feel able to make a complaint, the Bill may not achieve its stated goals]
It will be interesting to see how this progresses.