SME's need protection

Government urged to protect smaller firms The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called on the Government to introduce measures to end a culture of late payment and “supply chain bullying”. Revealing that 84% of small companies had been paid late, the FSB said there needs to be an obligation for large companies to assign non-executive directors to their boards who would have responsibility for their organisation’s payment practices and supplier relationships. Mike Cherry, the federation's national chairman, said: “Our reforms are not the silver bullet that will suddenly signal the end of poor payment practices, but they are certainly important and necessary steps towards this. I am calling on all politicians and big businesses to back these reforms and to show that they believe in fair pay and fair play.”