Doing what matters for businesses focuses on treating them fairly and helping them grow. COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the UK economy and has hit small businesses hard. During 2020, we focused on helping businesses get through a challenging year.
Late payments can have a material impact on small business cashflow. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) reported that three in five small businesses have been subject to late or frozen payments in the wake of the outbreak. This is why in 2020 we became a signatory of the Prompt Payment Code, a voluntary code of practice for businesses, administered by the Office of the Small Business Commissioner on behalf of the Government, which requires signatories to pay 95% of invoices within a maximum of 60 days. In the second half of 2020, we exceeded our goal; paying 96% of our small and medium-size suppliers in seven days.
David Nebard, Account Director from LMS, a business who supply conveyancing services to TSB, told us what it means to be treated fairly.
“LMS has a law firm panel and so clients paying us promptly means we can, in turn, pay our law firms promptly and this can have an impact on overall pricing. LMS is also a keen investor in digital innovation and progress, so every penny paid quickly counts.
“Business thrives through partnerships and collaboration grounded in fairness. Conveyancing is on the journey to becoming fully digitised but there is still some way to go. It will only improve, and succeed, if all the key players and components work together.”
We offer 25 months’ free banking* which gives start-ups breathing space to get up and running, and help businesses that have been hit by the pandemic to get back on their feet.
The offer comes packaged with a wide range of support to give SMEs the tools they need to grow and prosper. Through TSB’s partnership with Enterprise Nation, business customers have a year’s free membership giving access to a coronavirus business support hub, 12 months’ free digital advice and support, exclusive discounts with big-name brands, and opportunities to promote their business within a community of 70,000 businesses.
Our partnership with fintech Square has also given more than 5,000 businesses easy and affordable access to credit and debit card processing. They enable businesses to set up an online presence and take remote payments, a lifeline for many businesses during the pandemic. So far in 2021, this has driven transactions totalling more than £8 million.
We issued more than £600 million in loans to SME customers as part of the government-backed Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS). And made a commitment to pay our smaller suppliers within ten days of invoice – in the second half of 2020 we paid 96% of our small and medium sized suppliers in fewer than seven days.
