You may remember that last year, the MIA responded to the Late Payments Consultation, which ran between 31st July and 23rd October 2025.
We had been concerned about unintended consequences of the Government’s proposals for tackling late supplier payments. Following feedback from members via a survey, we then detailed these in a submission to the Office for the Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) – you can read that in full here.
To summarise, the MIA was concerned that strict limits on payment terms could harm small music retailers. Many rely on longer payment terms from larger suppliers to enable them to stock a wide variety of instruments whilst balancing cash-flow. If terms over 60 days are banned, the result might be that retailers may carry less stock, niche products might disappear from stores, and consumers would ultimately get less choice.
Last week, the Government’s response to the consultation was published, and you can see the new documents here:
Late payments: tackling poor payment practices – GOV.UK
What they’ve agreed is that large suppliers can continue to offer extended payment terms to smaller customers, and that these be exempted (by mutual agreement) from any new legislation around prompt payment.
This is a welcome result and aligns with the ask from the MIA. The Government is still intent on giving the Small Business Commissioner real enforcement powers in the area of late payment, but we don’t feel it will now impact the industry by accident.
The MIA continues to support the underlying aim of the legislation, which is to ensure that small businesses are not put at risk by others that abuse payment terms.
