DTI gets tough on late payers

The Department of Trade and Industry hopes to publish a green paper before the summer on its tough action for late payers of bills, says a department spokesman.

“We want to get the widest selection of views from the small business community… many design companies are small businesses,” he adds.

Plans for a bill, which was announced last week, give small companies the statutory right to charge interest on accounts which are unpaid. The bill is being spearheaded by DTI small business minister Barbara Roche.

The speech also promised early action to introduce a national minimum wage. “We have started work on the creation of a low-pay commission,” says the spokesman.

The Design Council is not in talks with the DTI on these issues, but “would hope that any new trade body would go into that”, says a council spokeswoman, referring to the review of design’s trade bodies already under way.