Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Late payments consultation: tackling poor payment practices, when he plans to publish his response to that consultation; and whether that response will include an assessment of the potential impact of late payment practices on self‑employed workers.

This Government will legislate to end the scourge of late payments, ensuring small businesses and the self-employed are paid on time. On 23^rd October 2025 we concluded a 12-week public consultation on our legislative proposals. On 16^th January 2026 we published an update on GOV.UK, restating our intention to publish our response early this year. We will publish a Government response to the consultation soon and intend to take forward legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allows. In line with the Better Regulation Framework, we will also publish an Impact Assessment that considers the impact on small and medium-sized businesses.