Unpaid Invoices Statistics
Last updated: 2026-10-28 · 12 sourced statistics
An unpaid invoice is money your business has already earned but cannot use, and a small share of it is never collected. UK government research estimates that businesses are owed about £26 billion in late payments at any given time, an average of £17,000 for each business affected, and that micro businesses have 4.61% of their turnover tied up this way. The cost of chasing it is close to £7 billion a year. Write-offs are smaller but uneven: in Western Europe credit losses average 1.6% of B2B turnover, yet nearly one in four firms report losses of up to 5%. In the US, QuickBooks' 2026 vendor survey finds that 27% of owners say a single missed payment under $5,000 made it hard to cover payroll or bills. This page focuses on amounts owed, their cost and bad debt; for how often invoices are paid late, see the late payment statistics.
Key takeaways
- The stock of unpaid money is large: about £26 billion is owed to UK businesses in late payments at any given time, £17,000 per affected business on average (UK government research, July 2025).
- Smaller firms carry more of it relative to their size: micro businesses affected by late payment have 4.61% of turnover tied up, against about 1% for the average affected business.
- Small balances still hurt: 27% of US owners say a missed payment under $5,000, and 12% one under $1,000, made it hard to cover payroll or bills (QuickBooks 2026, vendor survey).
- Most late money is eventually paid, but losses vary widely: credit losses average 1.6% of B2B turnover in Western Europe, with nearly one in four firms losing up to 5% (Atradius 2026).
- Unpaid invoices push firms into borrowing: UK research attributes about 9% of SME debt finance to late payment, and 38% of US small businesses with overdue invoices grew more reliant on credit cards.
At a glance.
Every figure on this page in one table, each linked to its named source. Scroll down for the full context behind each number.
| Figure | What it measures | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| £26bn | UK businesses are owed an estimated £26 billion in late payments at any given time, on average £17,000 per business affected by late payment. | London Economics for the UK Department for Business and Trade and the Office of the Small Business Commissioner, Late Payments Research: estimating the total economic cost of late payments (July 2025) | 2025 |
| 28% | Over 1.5 million UK businesses, or 28% of businesses, are affected by late payments each year. | UK Department for Business and Trade, Late payment consultation: time to pay up, government response | 2026 |
| 4.61% | Micro businesses affected by late payments have the highest share of turnover tied up in late payments, 4.61% on average, and the share declines with business size; for the average affected business it is about 1% of turnover. | London Economics for the UK Department for Business and Trade and the Office of the Small Business Commissioner, Late Payments Research (July 2025) | 2025 |
| 86 hours | Businesses affected by late payment spend on average 86 hours a year chasing it, equal to 133 million hours of staff time across the UK economy. | UK Department for Business and Trade, Late payment consultation: time to pay up, government response | 2026 |
| £7bn | The direct costs to UK businesses of dealing with late payments, including staff time, extra finance and other services, add up to almost £7 billion a year, about 0.13% of total business turnover. | London Economics for the UK Department for Business and Trade and the Office of the Small Business Commissioner, Late Payments Research (July 2025) | 2025 |
| 9% | UK businesses take out an estimated £1.165 billion of additional debt finance because of late payments, approximately 9% of SME debt finance. | London Economics for the UK Department for Business and Trade and the Office of the Small Business Commissioner, Late Payments Research (July 2025) | 2025 |
| 27% | 27% of US small business owners say a missed payment under $5,000 made it hard to cover payroll or bills in the past year, and 12% say one under $1,000 did (vendor survey). | Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report 2026 | 2026 |
| 51% vs 36% | 51% of US small businesses with overdue invoices report cash-flow problems, compared with 36% of those without (vendor survey). | Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report 2026 | 2026 |
| 38% vs 21% | 38% of US small businesses with overdue invoices grew more reliant on credit cards, compared with 21% of those without (vendor survey). | Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report 2026 | 2026 |
| Up to 5% | Nearly one in four companies in Western Europe report credit losses from bad debts of up to 5% of B2B invoiced turnover, against a regional average of 1.6%. | Atradius Payment Practices Barometer: Western Europe 2026 | 2026 |
| 1 in 5 | Around one fifth of North American suppliers use risk transfer tools such as credit insurance and bad debt reserves, and bad debt is more often linked to customers becoming inactive or unreachable than to long non-payment of large invoices. | Atradius Payment Practices Barometer: North America 2026 | 2026 |
| 60 days | The UK government intends to impose maximum payment terms of 60 days on business-to-business contracts, with strictly limited exemptions, as part of its response to the 2025 late payment consultation. | UK Department for Business and Trade, Late payment consultation: time to pay up, government response | 2026 |
The statistics
UK businesses are owed an estimated £26 billion in late payments at any given time, on average £17,000 per business affected by late payment.
Over 1.5 million UK businesses, or 28% of businesses, are affected by late payments each year.
Source:UK Department for Business and Trade, Late payment consultation: time to pay up, government response2026
Micro businesses affected by late payments have the highest share of turnover tied up in late payments, 4.61% on average, and the share declines with business size; for the average affected business it is about 1% of turnover.
Businesses affected by late payment spend on average 86 hours a year chasing it, equal to 133 million hours of staff time across the UK economy.
Source:UK Department for Business and Trade, Late payment consultation: time to pay up, government response2026
The direct costs to UK businesses of dealing with late payments, including staff time, extra finance and other services, add up to almost £7 billion a year, about 0.13% of total business turnover.
UK businesses take out an estimated £1.165 billion of additional debt finance because of late payments, approximately 9% of SME debt finance.
27% of US small business owners say a missed payment under $5,000 made it hard to cover payroll or bills in the past year, and 12% say one under $1,000 did (vendor survey).
Source:Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report 20262026
51% of US small businesses with overdue invoices report cash-flow problems, compared with 36% of those without (vendor survey).
Source:Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report 20262026
38% of US small businesses with overdue invoices grew more reliant on credit cards, compared with 21% of those without (vendor survey).
Source:Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report 20262026
Nearly one in four companies in Western Europe report credit losses from bad debts of up to 5% of B2B invoiced turnover, against a regional average of 1.6%.
Source:Atradius Payment Practices Barometer: Western Europe 20262026
Around one fifth of North American suppliers use risk transfer tools such as credit insurance and bad debt reserves, and bad debt is more often linked to customers becoming inactive or unreachable than to long non-payment of large invoices.
Source:Atradius Payment Practices Barometer: North America 20262026
The UK government intends to impose maximum payment terms of 60 days on business-to-business contracts, with strictly limited exemptions, as part of its response to the 2025 late payment consultation.
Source:UK Department for Business and Trade, Late payment consultation: time to pay up, government response2026
When these numbers don't apply
Aggregate statistics hide a lot. Read these caveats before quoting a figure as if it describes your specific situation.
- The UK figures come from research by London Economics for the Department for Business and Trade and the Office of the Small Business Commissioner, based on a YouGov/IFF Research survey of UK businesses scaled up to the UK business population. They are estimates with confidence ranges, not counts of invoices.
- 'Owed in late payments at any given time' is a stock of overdue money, not a loss. Most of it is eventually paid; the page separates money that is late from money that is written off as bad debt.
- QuickBooks figures come from a vendor-commissioned survey of 1,305 US business owners with 0 to 250 employees, fielded in December 2025, and QuickBooks' quarterly Small Business Insights panel. They describe self-reported experience, not audited receivables.
- Atradius reports regional averages from its own survey of B2B suppliers and does not state sample sizes on its web summaries. Credit losses are measured as a share of B2B invoiced turnover and do not cover sales to consumers.
- There is no official US series on unpaid or written-off invoices. The Federal Reserve's Small Business Credit Survey groups collecting on receivables into a broader 'uneven cash flow' challenge, which is covered on the late payment statistics page rather than repeated here.
- Recovery rights depend on the contract and the jurisdiction. This page is general information, not legal advice.
How we compiled this data
Reviewed on 2026-10-28. We removed every figure from the previous version: the QuickBooks January 2025 figures (superseded by the 2026 report), an Atradius '~5% written off' figure that does not appear on Atradius' pages, an FSB '50,000 closures' figure linked only to the FSB homepage, and a qualitative 'knock-on' line. Each figure kept was re-read on the review date in the London Economics research PDF published on gov.uk (July 2025), the UK government's consultation response page (updated July 2026), QuickBooks' 2026 late payments report page and Atradius' 2026 North America and Western Europe pages. To keep this page distinct from the late payment statistics page, we left out figures used there (Atradius' share of firms paid late, QuickBooks' 59% and $17.7K, Xero days-late data, the Federal Reserve cash flow figures and the UK's £11 billion economic cost).
We hand-collected each figure from its original publisher rather than recycling secondary round-ups, cross-checked the headline numbers against the source documents in 2026-10-28, and link every statistic to the report it came from so you can verify it yourself. Where a publisher issues annual updates, we cite the report edition and flag the year inline.
Frequently asked questions
How much money is owed in unpaid invoices?
UK government research estimates that businesses are owed about £26 billion in late payments at any given time, £17,000 on average for each affected business. There is no equivalent official estimate for the US.
What percentage of invoices are never paid?
No official source tracks this directly. Atradius' 2026 survey measures credit losses from bad debts at 1.6% of B2B invoiced turnover on average in Western Europe, with nearly one in four firms reporting losses of up to 5%. Most overdue money is paid eventually, usually within about a month of the due date.
Who is hit hardest by unpaid invoices?
The smallest firms. UK research finds that micro businesses affected by late payment have 4.61% of their turnover tied up in it, compared with about 1% for the average affected business. In the US, 27% of owners say a missed payment under $5,000 made it hard to cover payroll or bills.
What does chasing unpaid invoices cost?
In the UK, affected businesses spend 86 hours a year on average chasing late payments, and the total cost to businesses is put at almost £7 billion a year. Businesses also take out an estimated £1.165 billion of extra debt finance because of late payment.
What should I do about an unpaid invoice?
Send a clear reminder that names the invoice number, amount and due date, follow up on a set schedule, and check what your contract and local law allow, such as statutory interest on commercial debts in the UK and EU. Keep records of every reminder. This is general information, not legal advice.
Put these figures to use
- How to handle unpaid invoices: A six-step escalation plan from reminder to small claims, with worked interest examples.
- How to write a payment reminder email: Subject lines that name the invoice, a simple structure and five copy-ready reminder examples.
- Late payment culture by country: Payment-term rules in the EU, UK, US and Japan, and what statutory interest adds to a late bill.
- Late fee calculator: Work out a late fee on an overdue invoice.
- Payments hub: Guides and tools for getting paid.
Related statistics
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