You couldn’t accuse the UK government of wishing a second national lockdown. In fact, according to critics, the Johnson-led administration is guilty of trying to fend off the inevitable for too long, failing to take the decisive action that just might have nipped the ‘second wave’ in the bud back in September when it was clear cases were rising again.

The government’s reasoning is no secret. It wanted to do everything it possibly could to keep the already battered economy open, fearing the long-term consequences of another significant shut down in trade and commerce.

And yet here we are. After it became clear last week that the regional approach to COVID-19 restrictions wasn’t going to be enough, that transmission had galloped past the worst-case working assumptions, and that the NHS was already close to being overwhelmed in some areas, No 10 felt it had no other choice. Another U-turn, another lockdown, another month (we hope) of all but essential customer-facing businesses being shut.

Read more: Fears of a ‘Tsunami of Insolvencies’ as Second Lockdown Bites

It is not likely to be news to any business owner that the COVID-19 pandemic has seen late payments soar.

The fallout from the crisis has seen revenues across the economy plummet, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting a 20.4% slump in GDP in Q2 of this year while the country was in full lockdown.

Read more: Handling Late Payments in a Pandemic

Creative agencies and freelancers are being stung by an average 27-day wait for settlement of overdue invoices, according to a new report.

The findings come from a survey of over 5000 invoices issued by organisations such as IT developers, digital marketing consultancies, design specialists, film, TV and photography contractors and more. The study, carried out by business lender MarketFinance, found that clients were routinely paying service providers and suppliers late despite already insisting on lengthy payment terms that averaged out at 45 days.

Read more: Month-Long Wait for Late Payments ‘the New Norm’ in Creative Sector

A new year, a new decade even - but still the damning picture of just how much damage the UK’s late payment culture is doing to the small business economy continues to develop.

The latest depressing statistics, courtesy of digital business banking platform Tide, show that UK SMEs are on average spending a staggering one and a half hours every day chasing unpaid invoices. When you extrapolate that across the economy, that translates into 900,000 working hours being lost every single day.

Read more: New Year, New Start? Not for SMEs Chasing Late Payments