a national disgrace?: England crash out of late payments World Cup 2018 with 2nd worst record in Europe

Praseeda Nair | 18 June 2018 | 8 years ago

With Gareth Southgate’s team ready to test themselves at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, is there anything England could learn about late payments from fellow competing nations?

Coinciding with the 2018 World Cup, business intelligence firm Creditsafe used supply chain data from each competing country to find out who lifted the trophy for prompt supplier payments.

England made it out of the group stages, but with supplier payments late by an average of 16 days were knocked out by Columbia in the last sixteen, which had a stronger score of 8.9 days beyond payment terms.

Unfortuantely, England’s payment performance was worse than every single European nation apart from Portugal, where suppliers are paid an average 16.2 days beyond agreed terms.

World Cup veterans Brazil emerged as winners, with supplier payments made 4.3 days beyond agreed payment terms.

Country	Days beyond agreed terms	Country	Days beyond agreed terms
Brazil	4.3	England	16
Iceland	6.4	Portugal	16.2
Sweden	6.7	Korea, Republic Of	17.3
Germany	7.2	Australia	17.4
Denmark	8.7	Japan	18.4
Colombia	8.9	Mexico	19.4
Serbia	9.9	Tunisia	20.9
Poland	10	Peru	21.4
Argentina	10.8	Costa Rica	26.8
Spain	11.2	Iran, Islamic Republic Of	28.5
France	12.1	Morocco	31.2
Uruguay	13.4	Senegal	34.5
Switzerland	14.7	Nigeria	43.1
Russian Federation	14.7	Panama	43.6
Belgium	15.5	Egypt	46.7
Croatia	15.6	SaudI Arabia	48

Commenting on the late payments World Cup findings, Cato Syversen, Creditsafe CEO, said: it’s interesting to see that not only are Brazil on top of their sporting game, they are also on top when it comes to paying their suppliers.

with England, Im sure some would argue that reaching the last sixteen in the late payments tournament is a fair reflection of how the team is expected to perform on the pitch. However, it also indicates that there is much more that English businesses should be doing to ensure they are paying their suppliers on time.”

Open the image below to see Brazil’s route to the late payments final

Syversen added: The late payments World Cup highlights that a late payments culture exists around the world and England’s mid-ranking performance suggests there is more that can be learnt from countries far and wide.

a national disgrace?

Despite England’s reasonable record on the world stage, late payments continue to stifle small business growth in the UK.

The most recent figures, from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), found that 84% of small business owners are regularly paid beyond agreed terms, with a third saying at least one in four payments are late.

Over a third believed payment terms have even lengthened in the past two years, while only 4% said terms were improving for small firms.

In response, Mike Cherry, FSB chairman, called on big businesses to end poor payment practice and supply chain bullying.

the poor payment practices that run rampant through UK supply chains is a national disgrace with the country falling behind almost all other industrialised nations in our ability to pay small businesses on time, Cherry said.

we can only end the late payments crisis and poor payment practices when we see a fundamental cultural shift in the boardrooms of big business, with those at the very top showing a willingness to address the issue and be accountable for their payment practices.

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