United Kingdom small businesses
The Federation of Small Businesses and partners run regular research on UK late payment. The figures below come from a GoCardless and FSB report published in 2025 using survey data gathered from October to December 2024, and from a UK government announcement in September 2024 that cited FSB, Smart Data Foundry and Intuit QuickBooks research.
| Figure | What it measures | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45% | of small businesses are experiencing more late payments than 12 months ago | 2024 data | GoCardless / FSB |
| 24% | say they receive payments that are up to 60 days late | 2024 data | GoCardless / FSB |
| 52% | forfeit late payments up to 10 times a year to avoid the time and cost of chasing them | 2024 data | GoCardless / FSB |
| 61% | say late payments are holding their business back from its full potential | 2024 data | GoCardless / FSB |
| 50,000 | business closures a year are linked to late payment, according to FSB research cited by the UK government | 2024 | GOV.UK |
| £22,000 | average annual cost of late payments to a small or medium business (Smart Data Foundry and Intuit QuickBooks) | 2024 | GOV.UK |
| 52% | of UK SMEs suffered late payments every quarter in 2022, roughly 2.8 million firms (FSB) | 2022 data | GOV.UK |
Europe-wide
Intrum surveys thousands of companies across Europe each year for its European Payment Report. The figures below are from the 2023 edition, with fieldwork covering 10,556 companies across 29 countries between November 2022 and March 2023.
| Figure | What it measures | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 74 days | spent chasing late payments per year, about 29% of the working year, by European businesses on average | 2023 report | Intrum EPR 2023 |
| €275bn | annual cost to the European economy of the time spent chasing late payments | 2023 report | Intrum EPR 2023 |
| €9,194 | average amount each business spends per year chasing late payments | 2023 report | Intrum EPR 2023 |
| 4 in 10 | European businesses spend 10 or more hours a week chasing late payments | 2023 report | Intrum EPR 2023 |
| 71+ days | spent per year by UK businesses chasing late payments, costing the economy more than £27bn a year | 2023 report | Intrum UK |
United States freelancers
Two 2022 surveys of US freelancers report high rates of late and missing payment. The first comes from the Independent Economy Council, based on 416 professionals who earn the majority of their income from freelance work. The second is a joint survey of New York freelancers run by the Authors Guild, the Freelancers Union and other creative bodies. Both draw on specific samples, so read each figure as the experience of that group rather than of all freelancers everywhere.
| Figure | What it measures | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 74% | of surveyed freelancers are not getting paid on time | 2022 | Independent Economy Council |
| 72% | have outstanding invoices that have gone unpaid by clients | 2022 | Independent Economy Council |
| 59% | of this sample are owed $50,000 or more for work already completed (full-time freelancers; treat as sample specific) | 2022 | Independent Economy Council |
| 91% | of surveyed New York freelancers have experienced late or overdue payment at least once | 2022 | Authors Guild et al. |
| 62% | of NY freelance workers have lost wages at least once over a client refusing to pay | 2022 | Authors Guild et al. |
| 51% | of those who lost income to non-payment lost more than $1,000, and 22% lost more than $5,000 | 2022 | Authors Guild et al. |
Protect your own cash flow
The numbers above show why getting invoices out promptly and chasing them early matters. If a client has already missed a due date, check what you can charge with our late-payment interest rates by country reference and work out the figure with the late-payment interest calculator. To make sure your invoices are compliant in the first place, see our invoice requirements by country page and the complete invoice guide.
A note on accuracy: we gather these statistics from named, dated sources and quote them as published, without rounding or reshaping. Surveys still differ in method and sample, and errors are possible. If you spot one that looks wrong, please tell us at feedback@invoiceno.com and check the linked source, which always takes precedence over this page.