Chief construction officer urged to address late-payment culture
The remit of the new chief construction adviser to the Government is doomed to fail unless the late-payment culture of the industry is addressed, according to a leading construction-finance specialist. Jason Heath, construction-finance specialist with Bibby Financial Services, says, ‘While I welcome any Government Initiative aimed at supporting and promoting the success of the UK construction industry, I believe that the new adviser will be thwarted from day one unless something is done to change the late-payment culture within the industry.’
He continues, ‘Unless the chief construction adviser addresses the basics such as payment of invoices, thousand of contractors will be bankrupted before the ink has even dried on his new strategy statements. We desperately need real action — not just posturing and rhetoric. It’s all very well promoting innovation and sustainability in the industry, but there will be no industry left unless someone speaks out for the smaller companies in the supply chain.’
