Small and medium-sized businesses are more likely to accept excuses from late paying customers now than before the recession, according to data collated by positivecollections.co.uk.

The data reveals that 74% of small firms are accepting late payment excuses and 10% of companies avoid chasing debts in the first place as they are worried about losing future business or simply feel too uncomfortable about broaching the subject. Just under 20% of respondents stated that they believe that chasing debts would be too expensive due to legal fees.

"Interestingly there seems to be a clear trend towards delayed payments which has been made more prevalent since the recession took hold. The fact that so many businesses in the UK have become accepting of this ‘late payment culture' is certainly a cause for concern as this has implications on the whole business community and economy," said David Green, CEO of positivecollections.co.uk.