Self-employed sceptical over late payments tsar

MOST freelancers and micro-businesses do not believe the Government’s late payment tsar will be able to tackle the UK’s payment problems.

Just two per cent of respondents in a survey by OnePoll for software provider FreeAgent said they thought the Small Business Commissioner would be effective.

The study of 700 freelancers and microbusiness owners also revealed that 57 per cent had not heard of the new post. The survey comes just days after the Government announced it was stepping up the hunt for the commissioner, whose key role will be to tackle the culture of late payments and ‘become a national spokesperson for small businesses affected by payment issues’.

Ed Molyneux, chief executive and co-founder of FreeAgent, said: ‘Late payment is a huge problem. It’s clear from our research that microbusinesses are sceptical about the commissioner.’