2025年英国支付调查：由于买家现金流担忧，公司面临越来越多的付款延迟

PAYMENT SURVEY CofaceEconomist 2025 United Kingdom Payment Survey:Companies face rising payment delaysamid buyer cash flow concerns Executive summaryI The reasons behind late payments are shifting.Operational issues remain a factor, but financialdifficulties among buyers are the most commonlycited cause. Some companies even report deliberatepostponements unrelated to liquidity – a sign ofpoor payment discipline in some sectors. Sectoraldifferences are stark:constructionandautomotive/ behaviour in the United Kingdom, conductedin July 2025 among almost 700 companies,the results highlight just how widespread andimportant offering credit is – yet also the risks it poses. An overwhelming90% of companiesreported experiencing late payments in thepast year,with theaverage delay reaching 32 days.The impact is not uniform:constructionandautomotive/transportare among the mostaffected sectors, whilepublishing, communication Despite these pressures, there is cautious optimism.Many companies expect fewer late payments in2026, driven by improving economic sentimentand stronger expectations for profitability and cashflow. However, this optimism is uneven –micro UK businesses are walking a tightrope betweenoffering flexible payment terms and managingthe growing burden of late payments. While mostcompanies continue to extend credit – with only3% offering no terms at all – getting paid on timeis becoming increasingly difficult with 90% ofcompanies reporting delays over the past year andnearly half experiencing them more frequently Payment delays remain a systemic and widespreadissue and while the outlook might be graduallyimproving, they follow a prolonged period ofdifficulty and recovery is starting from a weakposition. The challenge now is ensuring that PAYMENT TERMS Offering payment terms when trading is acommon practice in the United Kingdom, with only3% of respondents stating that they do not offerany payment terms to their customers or buyers.This practice is widespread across most sectors, The most frequent payment terms to offer (37%) isbetween 1–30 days, followed by 31–60 days (29%).Payment terms exceeding 90 days are relativelyrare (14%). Interestingly, more companies reportedhaving extended their payment terms (49%) than The average payment terms were approximately50.9 days – comparable to France (51 days1), butlonger than in Germany2and Poland3(32 and46 days, respectively), and notably shorter thanthe averages in Asia-Pacific4(65 days) and LatinAmerica5(53 days). The payment terms were Payment terms vary by company size6.Micro andsmall companiesreport the shortest average termsat 46 days, followed bymid-sizedcompaniesat 53.6days, andlarge companiesat 56 days. SeeChart 1.Generally speaking, the larger the company, thelonger the payment terms it is able to offer. Nearly20% oflarge companiesoffer terms exceeding90 days, compared to just 10% ofmicroandsmall Chart 2highlights some variation in typicalp a y m e n tt e r m s a c r o s s s e c t o r s .I n t h epharmaceuticalandpublishing, communications& mediasectors, the most common terms arebetween 1–30 days – likely influenced by the presence of large companies being able to paytheir suppliers quicker. Inretailandhospitality,the most common terms fall within the 31–60 Average payment terms are highest inbusinessservices(57.0 days),finance(55.6 days), andpaper/wood(56.8 days), largely due to the prevalence ofterms between 31–90 days. At the other end of thespectrum, thepharmaceuticalsector (23.0 days) Several sectors with the longest payment termsalso reported increases over the past year,with more than 50% of companies inagrifood,ICT, andfinanceindicating extending longerterms. In contrast,paper/woodandpublishing,communications & mediasaw relatively smallernet increases. In the case ofpaper/wood, this is 2PAYMENT DELAYS With a slowing economy and companiesstruggling with high – and rising – costs, paymentdelays are becoming increasingly common in theUnited Kingdom, with 90% of companies reportingat least one late payment over the past year. Ofthose, 44% stated that delays occurred more A similar proportion of companies across sizesexperienced late payments – 87% ofmicro andsmall companies, 93% ofmid-sized companies,and 91% oflarge companies. However, asignificantly higher share ofmicro and smallcompaniesreported a worsening trend, with On average, late payments were 31.8 days overdue,with only minor differences by company size – 31.0days formicro and small companies, 32.0 daysformid-sized companies, and 32.6 days forlargecompanies. This may suggest thatmicro and small This is particularly important formicro and smallcompanies, which typically operate with moresensitive cash flows and are more vulnerable toliquidity shocks. It is therefore unsurprising thataround 15% of them reported that late paymentswould have a significant impact on their cash flow.Late payments are a concern across all companysizes, with 16% overall indicating a significanti