Should Late Payment of Invoices Carry An interest Penalty
While the protesters continue to make their presence felt outside St Paul's Cathedral in London regarding what they call corporate greed. The case of the Hearts Football players receiving late salary payments has also hit the headlines. Many of the players are frustrated. The BBC has reported that their October salaries where 16 days late while the November salaries were 29 days late. There is something not quite right when the corporate world invades the world of sport and seeks to make sport into a business.
All this got me thinking about the injustices that are happening in our communities and are often not being addressed be it in Scotland, England or Northern Ireland. Could it be that the salaries of footballers are too high in any case? (I can never quite get my head round the fact that ordinary working people on small salaries or weekly wages go to watch football matches and pay large amounts for tickets to watch football that is often way below a good standard). Anyway a contract is a contract and if players have been promised an amount then they are due that amount, regardless what you think of the law that seeks to enforce the principle. For me the interesting thing that has not been mentioned is that the Hearts players may be liable for extra payments due to the late payment of their salaries.
I wonder how many people know that there is a European directive to government departments which highlights the importance of paying bills on time. Recently I discovered that Government bodies are duty bound to pay interest on the late payment of their bills and invoices,in the same way that an individual has to pay interest on the late payment of tax.
I'm sure there must be a number of companies up and down the land who could benefit from knowing about this information especially if they are doing work for the government. However I think the law just applies to Government bodies like Health Boards etc. However I'm sure it might be helpful to all small businessess if a similar law was passed instructing all sectors to pay their invoices promptly. I'm certain it would help a lot of small to medium size businesses.
Let me know what you think.
Posted By: i_watch On: 29 Dec 2011 At: 7:37pm
italker,
Seems Altoman has confirmed the Late Payment you mentioned is/was a problem for his business. Since we have Health Boards in Scotland I “googled” and yes N Irland has Health Trusts in fact 6 of them.
I’m sure Health Boards always pay their bills on time.