The UK’s GDP growth has been steady, if unspectacular in the last 12 months while unemployment levels have fallen, but new figures released on CCJs hint that dark clouds may be on the horizon for the economy.
According to figures from 2015, 56% of claims made to the County Court resulted in CCJs. CCJs are issued when a court decides that a business debt must be paid by the debtor, therefore allowing debts to get to the point where enforcement is used reveals that more than half of UK businesses are either unwilling or not able to pay due to their own financial issues.
The number of CCJs issued was the highest for 6 years, which was the period following the financial crisis when the UK economy was still in recession. The Chancellor, George Osborne, recently spoke about a “dangerous cocktail of new threats” which might hit the UK economy and some of those threats may already be felt by some businesses in financial difficulties.
Any businesses affected by late paying customers should be particularly vigilant if payment deadlines are missed. This is even more important if missed payment deadlines are becoming more frequent. If your business is having difficulties with late paying clients, then contacting one of our debt recovery experts may be an option.