Small Business Commissioner to target late payments

In late 2015 UK business minister Anna Sourby announced a plan to create the role of Small Business Commissioner to tackle the power “imbalance” between small and large UK businesses.

The government says it understands the problems that small businesses face and see the creation of the proposed Commissioner can help.

Their idea is that the Commissioner’s services will enable smaller firms to resolve disputes with other businesses quickly and easily. This will preserve important commercial relationships without the need to go to court.

They say its main functions would be:

• providing information, general advice and signposting
• offering mediation to resolve disputes
• dealing with complaints

The consultation process received input from UK business representative bodies, businesses providing professional business services, and businesses providing dispute resolution services. That process has now concluded and a summary of the responses published. You can view the PDF document here.