Overdue invoices surge past half-million mark

NORTH East businesses had to tackle more than half a million overdue invoices at the start of this year, new figures have revealed.

- COREENA FORD Business writer [e-mail]

The total number of overdue invoices on the books of regional businesses hit 522,566 in the first quarter of 2025, according to new research from R3, the UK’s insolvency and restructuring trade body.

R3’s analysis of data provided by Creditsafe showed firms were faced with 173,197 in January, 175,020 in February, and 174,349 in March - a huge rise of 21.2% compared to Q1 2024's total of 431,039.

Looking at the wider UK picture, the North East saw the third largest percentage increase in overdue invoice numbers, preceded only by the West Midlands (46.3% rise) and Scotland (41.4%).

Kelly Jordan, chair of R3 in the North East, said: "Late payment levels in the North East have remained consistently high since October last year, and the surge this quarter compared to last year is a stark reminder of how financial pressures are escalating for local businesses.