Technical problems including email and internet failures have been voted the most stressful office issue for workers.

Some 31 per cent of office staff find internet and emails breaking down the most annoying occurrence, according to a study of 800 respondents by ECigaretteDirect.co.uk.

An unrealistic workload came in second with almost a fifth (18 per cent) of people finding that there aren't enough hours in the day to get through their tasks.

Fourteen per cent say that a bad commute is the most stressful part of their working day, coming third in the poll.

A spokesperson from ECigaretteDirect.co.uk says, 'Many of us don’t realise how stressful the office environment can be as it just melts into the fabric of everyday life.

'However, it’s no surprise that internet malfunctions came top of the list. In today’s technology-driven age so much of what we do is reliant on being online we often feel lost and frustrated without it.'

Other items on the list which were found to cause maximum office frustration included compiling end-of-year accounts (11 per cent) and people being late for meetings (9 per cent).

A brave 8 per cent went out on a limb to identify their boss as the most annoying thing about going to work, with 6 per cent citing demanding clients as the main reason behind their working frustrations.

Perhaps surprisingly, a lack of office equipment and a shortage of tea and coffee polled relatively low on the list with only 1 and 2 per cent respectively stating them their main office gripe.

Britain’s apprentices are getting promoted, improving their confidence and taking on more responsibility in the workplace, according to a report.

The Apprentice Learner Survey of 5,000 apprentices reveals that almost nine in ten apprentices (89 per cent) are ‘satisfied’.

One third of individuals who had finished their apprenticeship had received a promotion (32 per cent), and of those in work, three quarters report taking on more responsibility in their job (75 per cent).

Eight out of ten apprentices believe that their apprenticeship has improved their ability to do their job, provided them with sector-relevant skills and knowledge, and improved their career prospects.

Apprenticeships also seem to equip individuals with the confidence they need to fulfil their aspirations, with almost nine in ten (87 per cent) strongly agreeing that they are more confident about their own abilities as a result of undertaking the apprenticeship.

Some 88 per cent of employers are satisfied with the relevance of the training and 85 per cent satisfied with the quality of the training issued by their provider.

Nearly half (47 per cent) had already recommended apprenticeships to other employers.

Skills minister John Hayes says, ‘I am delighted by these impressive survey results. We are succeeding in making apprenticeships a gold standard option for ambitious young people and sending a crystal clear message that technical excellence is as essential and highly valued as academic prowess.’

A further report examining the net financial benefits of training to employers has been published.

The study assesses the amount that employers themselves invest in apprenticeships. This ranges from £39,000 per apprenticeship (level 2 and 3 combined) in engineering to around £3,000-£4,000 in retail or hospitality.

The study also looks at the time it takes for an employer to recoup their investment where the apprentice is a new recruit, which averages at around one to two years.

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Small business domestic turnover decreased by 7 per cent between Q4 2011 and Q1 2012, research finds.

Export turnover for the same period is also down by 9 per cent, confirming a slow start to the year, according to a quarterly study by ABN AMRO Commercial Finance.

However, year-on-year export turnover is still up 68 per cent on Q1 2011.

Peter Brinsley, international manager at ABN AMRO says, ‘These disappointing recent results are reflective of a challenging trading environment and echo the economic picture as the UK falls ‘technically’ back into recession.

‘Short-term paralysis fuelled by continuing speculation of a double-dip recession should now be at an end and small businesses should interpret these figures as a blip and not a trend. Export turnover is still up significantly on 2011 overall and there are growth opportunities available, particularly for bold and agile small and medium-sized businesses.’

Despite quarterly performance falling in Q1, some sectors are still up on the same period in 2011, indicating that they are holding on to performance gains built up over the last few years.

Turnover fell, or remained stagnant, across all sectors between Q4 2011 and Q1 2012. The recruitment sector has seen the largest contraction in turnover in this period (11 per cent).

However, turnover grew slightly year-on-year in the services (1 per cent), engineering (0.5 per cent) and recruitment (1 per cent) sectors.  

The manufacturing and distribution sectors have seen consistent turnover decline with a fall of 5 and 6 per cent year-on-year respectively.

Brinsley adds, ‘It’s encouraging to see the services sector holding up in the medium-term yet it’s certainly worrying to see manufacturing and distribution performance falling and this has no doubt contributed to us entering the double-dip.

Despite shaky performance, invoice payment times have actually improved for domestic and export customers.

Export payment times fell from 63 days to 60 between Q4 and Q1, while in the domestic market, this decreased on average by 1.5 days.

The government is being urged to reinvigorate its efforts to tackle sickness absence.

Manufacturers’ organisation EEF made the call on the back of publication of the EEF/Westfield Health 2012 annual sickness absence report, which includes the UK’s largest private sector business survey of sickness absence.

The overall sickness absence rate remains unchanged from 2010 (2.2 per cent), while the average working days lost to absence has shown a marginal increase from five days per employee to 5.1 days.

The issue of presenteeism is now being discussed significantly with 55 per cent of companies expressing concerns in regard to short-term illness and unmotivated employees. However, only 5 per cent of companies currently monitor the cost of presenteeism.

EEF chief medical adviser, Professor Sayeed Khan says, ‘With our economy still suffering from weak growth we need to pull every possible lever to improve our economic performance. This includes helping employees to return to health and work as soon as possible.

‘There are now signs that the wins to reduce short-term absence are being exhausted and we need a fresh approach from government to address the more deep-rooted problems such as stress and back pain.’

Khan adds that the government must now implement the fit note culture, through the training of all doctors and support companies that invest in rehabilitation, with companies needing to ensure the fit note works for them.

Almost 60 per cent of companies say the fit note has made no difference to their business, a statistic that the EEF believes emphasises that more effort needs to be made to 'embed' this culture if it is to succeed, including the introduction of the electronic fit note as soon as possible in 2012.

The short-term jobs outlook has ‘turned positive’ for the first time in more than a year, research finds.

A report of 1,000 employers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows the net employment balance, which measures the difference between the proportion of employers that intend to increase total staffing levels and those that intend to decrease in the first quarter of 2012, has risen to +6 from -8 since the winter 2011/12 quarter. This is the report’s first positive figure for more than a year.

However, the institute warns that optimism should be tempered by employers’ continued caution about the medium term, which taken together with recent weak economic data, suggests a high risk that many employers may find it necessary to reassess staffing levels before the year is out.

The survey’s 12-month balance, which gives a longer-term perspective on the net effect of recruitment and redundancy intentions, has risen to +3 from -6.

The private sector is driving much of the upturn, with the net employment balance for the private sector rising to +25 compared with +10 three months ago. Meanwhile, the net employment balance for the public sector (-32) is at its least negative since the winter 2009/10 report – and compares to -49 last quarter.

The continuing pressure that employers face to cut costs is evidenced by an increase in the proportion of organisations that are intending to offshore jobs to other parts of the world in the 12 months to March 2013, from 6 per cent to 8 per cent. Eight out of ten (79 per cent) employers cite cost cutting as the main reason for offshoring jobs.

Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser at the CIPD says, ‘The jobs market is desperately seeking good news, so this latest set of positive figures is very welcome. However, any short-term jobs recovery may not be sustained because of the zigzagging economic backdrop.

‘News of a double-dip recession may cause some employers to reassess current staffing levels, especially while labour costs are rising and productivity is falling. The current economic situation facing recruiters looks unusually difficult to read, which may lead to swings in confidence for the rest of the year.’

The Queen’s speech could have delivered more for enterprise, according to business commentators.

Edward Winterton, executive director of Bibby Financial Services, says that the Speech was not used by the Coalition to plan economic growth, particularly given the support for small businesses George Osborne hinted at in the Budget.

He adds, ‘The review of how firms can access funding suggested there may be more support available for companies on the horizon. The Queen’s Speech did reveal a new Banking Reform Bill, to be published in June, which will see a loosening of red tape for customers, but what about the businesses that simply need access to funds essential for survival and growth?’

John Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Industry says that the test for the Queen’s Speech is whether it will help businesses to grow.

‘Two bills stand out for me: energy and regulatory reform. The first should help, but the jury’s out on the second,’ he says.

Cridland adds that business investment in low-carbon will only happen when a ‘detailed market framework’ is in place, with the announcements in the Speech an ‘important stepping stone’.

He adds, ‘It is employment regulation where the shoe pinches for growing firms. We await the government’s bold reforms in this area.'

Chris Parkhouse, chairman of the Institute of Directors in the East of England says the parental leave measures, which will afford parents more flexible leave, is a sensible proposal. ‘It makes sense as an arrangement to give families more flexibility in how they use their allowance. However, the government should be careful not to use this as an opportunity to increase levels of leave. Sharing the allowance is fine, but putting heavier burdens on business in these tough times would not be a sensible move.’

Overall, Parkhouse says that the government is right to place deficit reduction and economic stability at the forefront of their programme, but he adds, ‘We need to see these measures pursued enthusiastically in practice, not just in principle. To restore business confidence, which is the real key to growth, there must be drastic measures to cut costly regulation and continue to tackle the deficit.

‘Tweaking the edges of the system will not be enough – it’s not the number of bills that matters, it’s what is in them that really counts.’

UK small businesses could face fines of up to £500,000 if they fail to meet tough new website privacy laws which come into force this month.

Commercial law firm EMW warns that regulation to come into effect on 25 May will mean that visitors to company websites will have to give permission for the website to download ‘cookies’, temporary computer files which gather information about the user’s online activity.

Cookies are activated by a user when they access particular pages on a site. The cookie is sent from the website to the user’s computer and remains once they leave the site. When the user returns to the site the cookie allows the website to remember their preferences and settings.

Matthew Holman, solicitor at EMW, says, ‘The effect of this change in the law will be far-reaching; any business that has a website will almost certainly use cookies at some point or other. The upcoming deadline is a wake-up call for those businesses that have not yet updated their website to gain consent from users.’

EMW explains that the old law only required businesses to give users the opportunity to ‘opt out’ and was often done by referring to the cookies in a privacy policy.

The company adds that businesses need to take three practical steps to prepare for the new rules: review what cookies are used by their website, decide on the appropriate course of action to ensure that consent is obtained for the use of cookies (ie using pop-ups or banners on the website to obtain consent), and ensure that these measures are implemented on or before the 25 May 2012.

Holman concludes, ‘The risk of a £500,000 fine for extreme infringements of the rules should send a strong message to businesses that they must be ready in time.’

Hundreds of thousands of UK small business owners are due a sizeable tax rebate from HMRC, according to a tax specialist.

CA Tax Solutions says that any company that owns a commercial premises has a high probability of receiving a capital allowances tax windfall to the tune of thousands, or even tens of thousands of pounds.

Research from accountancy firm Deloitte confirms that in nine cases out of ten, capital allowances reports will uncover a tax rebate for the owner of a commercial property.

To date, CA Tax Solutions claims that the average rebate it has generated for smaller UK commercial property owners is £25,000 net, with the biggest tax rebate more than £10 million net.

Because claims can be made historically, CA Tax Solutions estimates that there is £65 billon-£70 billion of net tax rebate lying unclaimed in the UK's commercial property stock.

Smaller businesses that own commercial property are most likely to be due a rebate as their accountants will often not understand the intricacies of capital allowances and how to uncover them, adds the firm.

CA Tax Solutions managing director Mark Tighe says, ‘Capital allowances are one of the more obscure areas of tax and for this reason they often pass under the radar of a lot of firms. And for obvious reasons, HMRC isn’t shouting about it from the rooftops, either.

‘A big problem is that many accountants are embarrassed to approach their clients about the issue, as really this is something they should have alerted them to years back. The truth, though, is that accountants can't be expected to have the skill set required to identify capital allowances. The bottom line is that it's a very tough climate for the majority of UK firms right now and a cheque from HMRC would be a real fillip.’

Short-term loan provider Wonga is set to launch a business loan service, which wlll reportedly make funds available within 15 minutes of an application.

The firm, which has been heavily criticised for lending to individuals at an APR of 4,214 per cent, claims business loans will be on offer at rates starting at 17 per cent APR.

Loans of £3,000 to £10,000 will be available for terms of between one and 52 weeks. The cost, including a variable application fee and interest, starts at 0.3 per cent a week and the loans must be repaid in weekly instalments.

Peter Ewen, managing director of ABN AMRO Commercial Finance says that while short-term loans can certainly plug funding gaps, they can also be unsustainable and expensive.

‘Wonga hopes to fill a gap in the funding market that may not even be there. Evidence suggests that businesses are wary of seeking additional borrowing and that it is demand rather than supply that has reduced. In that case, time will tell whether this new offering from Wonga will have much of an impact.’

Christopher Shaw, CEO of alternative finance specialists, Platform Black, adds that Wonga moving into business loans is a sign of ‘how desperate things have become for the UK's SMEs’.
 
He says, ‘Taking on sky-high APRs in order to meet immediate cash flow requirements is about the worst thing you can do as a business.'
 
Shaw criticises Wonga’s position that it is inappropriate to look at the APR, as the loans are often taken out for as little as a week noting that the longest term is 52 weeks.

‘The UK's SMEs need fuel to restart the economy, but not at these prices. Effective alternative finance channels exist already for SMEs without having to go to these extremes.’
 

A business group has urged the government to protect small suppliers from unfair treatment by supermarkets.

Ahead of tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) has appealed to the government to ensure the Groceries Code Adjudicator, set up to investigate complaints about grocery retailers with a turnover of £1 billion or more, has the necessary power to fine supermarkets that unfairly abuse their suppliers.

When the draft bill was announced last year the FBP was critical of the fact there were no plans for the adjudicator to have powers to fine supermarkets found to be treating their suppliers unfairly.

Forum senior policy advisor Alex Jackman says, ‘Our sentiment has not changed and we still feel that an adjudicator without the firepower to deal effectively with supermarket abuse can't be effective.

‘Supermarkets nowadays are multi-billion pound corporate giants driven by money. Frankly, anything less than an adjudicator with the power to take that money from them is simply going to be woefully inadequate.’

The organisation adds that the plan should be implemented as soon as possible, with the capacity to fine immediately with multiplier fines for repeat offenders.

The Queen's Speech will also see the Children and Families Bill before the House and will look at whether changes should be made to allow all employees to request flexible working, as opposed to only those workers with caring responsibilities now.

Jackman says, ‘Our position on this is that flexible working is good for some businesses, but they should not be compelled into providing it if it doesn't suit. Further, managers will likely find themselves in the middle of competing requests for flexible leave and will have to arbitrate which is the more deserving case.

‘This is time consuming and will almost certainly lead to conflict between the winners and the losers too – hardly great for encouraging workforce harmony.’

High street sales were slightly down in the year to April, but in line with expectations for the time of year, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

The CBI’s latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey, covering the first two weeks in April, shows that 33 per cent of retailers see an increase in sales volumes on a year ago, while 39 per cent report a fall. The resulting balance of -6 per cent marks a slight fall in sales, following little change in the previous two months.

Sales volumes are expected to rise next month, with the expectations balance at its highest (+19 per cent) since February 2011 (+25 per cent).

Companies report that the volume of orders also fell slightly on a year ago (-7 per cent), but a balance of +6 per cent anticipate that orders will grow in May.

In April, a balance of +72 per cent of furniture and carpet operators reported a year-on-year increase in volume of sales for the third consecutive month, while clothing, and footwear and leather, also saw solid growth.

This contrasts with falls in sales elsewhere, particularly grocers, with a balance of -19 per cent reporting a decline in year-on-year sales for the first time since November 2011.

Across retailing, stock levels are being carefully managed. In April they were seen as modest in relation to expected demand (+5 per cent), falling back from last month’s figure.

Judith McKenna, chair of the CBI Distributive Trades Panel says, ‘The situation on our high streets remains fragile. Consumers are still holding off from buying bigger ticket items, and opting to spend on smaller ‘treat’ purchases that give them a lift without breaking the budget.

‘If as expected, inflation falls further later this year, we may see some growth in retail sales, but as long as high unemployment and sluggish wage growth dampen confidence, spending will remain tight.’

UK businesses have seen increases in exporting activity over the first quarter of the year, with many businesses expecting the trend to continue in Q2 2012.

The DHL/British Chambers of Commerce Trade Confidence index, which draws upon more than 1,000 exporters, shows an 8 percent increase on the same quarter last year.

The survey series shows that many exporters found last year challenging, with high input prices for oil and other commodities hammering many businesses. However, the survey for the first quarter of this year shows that the price pressures are easing, and this combined with lower inflation could make it an easier year for many exporters.

The balance of companies reporting increases in export sales (over the last three months) and export orders (for the next three months) rose to levels last seen in Q4 2010.

John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce says, ‘At the end of 2011, there was a huge amount of uncertainty surrounding the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and its impact on UK firms. But the beginning of 2012 saw some semblance of calm retuning which has translated into greater confidence and activity among UK exporters.

‘Export orders and sales have risen strongly in Q1, and documentation returns are the highest on record. While it is too early to say this represents the start of a strong recovery, it’s fair to say that it is a reason to be optimistic - in particular contrast to some of the most recent economic data.’

Phil Couchman, CEO of DHL Express UK and Ireland adds, 'We have seen an increased demand for British exports to countries outside the Eurozone, with our greatest volumes going respectively to the USA and China. We are also seeing an increase in trade to the booming BRIC nations, including Brazil which has recently overtaken the UK to become the sixth largest economy in the world.'

The number of new job opportunities in April has increased year-on-year, according to a new survey.

The Reed Job Index of new vacancies shows a 7 per cent rise compared to April 2011, although the Easter holidays prompted a 6 percent fall against the previous month. The Reed Job Index now stands at 134.

Martin Warnes, managing director of reed.co.uk says, ‘Last week's announcement that the economy entered a double dip recession in the first quarter of 2012 is, first and foremost, a confidence blow and contradicts the general trend for growth we've seen throughout the last 12 months.

‘The creation of new jobs in growth areas, such as energy, engineering and automotive, is helping give the recovery the momentum it needs. But with the high tax burden on employers recruiting new staff, now is the time for policymakers to ensure the path to a jobs-led recovery is a smooth one.’

While there were month-on-month vacancy falls in April for over half of the sectors examined, a third of these, including engineering (233), IT (172) and accountancy qualified (154), had index readings well above April’s national index of 134.

Demand for new staff working in the energy sector bounced back by 25 per cent compared with March and is 50 per cent up on last year to give an index reading of 126.

Salaries for new jobs have stayed 1 per cent lower in real terms than when the index was first set in December 2009. Down one index point from March, UK salaries continue to lag further behind inflation to give a Reed Salary Index reading of 98.

Vacancies available fell across all regions of the UK in April compared with March, however annual growth in new job opportunities was seen in nine of the 12 regions analysed including the East Midlands (up 19 per cent), East Anglia (up 12 per cent) and Northern Ireland (up 32 per cent).

Small businesses are still struggling to win public sector contracts despite the government's efforts to make it easier, research finds.

The latest figures from a survey of 2,700 companies by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) reveal that 40 per cent of small operators believe the tendering process for public sector contracts is too complex, while 37 per cent think they are sidelined by public officials who believe bigger firms must be better.

The findings come despite the government's launch of its Contracts Finder website designed to make it easier for small firms to find and bid for public sector work.

Although one in seven companies had bid for a public sector contract in the last year, 41 per cent failed to secure any business from any of the bids they had submitted.

Of those that had won contracts, only a quarter (27 per cent) say they had found the Contracts Finder website useful, with twice that number (55 per cent) relying on personal contacts and referrals.

Two fifths of small businesses still want a simplified tendering process, with 38 per cent believing that public sector bosses should evaluate tenders based on experience and ability rather than on the size and turnover of bidding firms.

The FSB is calling for all parts of the public sector to agree to the range of measures to support small firms detailed in the Procurement Pledge published by the government last week.

FSB national chairman John Walker says, ‘The government has made an effort to raise awareness in the public sector that Britain's entrepreneurs and small businesses are willing and able business partners.

‘But clearly more must be done. While central government has raised its game, without a true culture change across the public sector as a whole the government's initiatives will have little impact.’

Almost a quarter of shoppers say they do more than half of all their shopping online.

According to a survey by e-commerce comparison site BagThat.com, UK shoppers do 32 per cent of all their shopping online. However, when asked how much they believe they will do in future, the amount increases to 45 per cent overall.

Some 10 per cent of people say they don’t ever shop online, falling to just 6 per cent in the 18-34 year old age range. Almost a third (29 per cent) of Londoners say they do more than half online compared to only 18 per cent in the North of England and Scotland.

The study also reveals that more than a quarter of people under 34 share a purchase they have made on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter and 65 per cent are more likely to make to purchase if they receive a recommendation on social media.

Forty-three per cent of shoppers on average and 54 per cent of those under 34 say they rely on friends’ recommendations the most as opposed to 10 per cent who rely on a parent, and 5 per cent that rely on work colleagues.

Andy Sutton, founder and CEO of BagThat says, ‘We believe that social shopping is the future. Without thinking about it, we all take advantage of volume purchases in our everyday lives, whether it’s those three for two offers in supermarkets or bulk buying at the local cash and carry, but rarely do we as individual consumers get the chance to benefit from volume purchases on quality, branded goods.

‘British shoppers are all individually buying the same products, and in the context of the difficult economic climate and this socially connected world, it makes sense for people to get together and collectively buy products if it means getting a much better deal.’

The UK needs an alternative to redundancy, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Some 632,000 employees were made redundant in the past 12 months, an increase of 7.5 per cent on the previous year, according to TUC figures.

The trade union body fears that many of those being made redundant are not finding their way back into the labour market, with the number of job seekers currently outnumbering vacancies by more than five to one.

Thursday’s ‘Redundancy Isn't Working’ debate hosted by the TUC considered why UK businesses continue to rely upon redundancy policies which the organisation calls ‘dated’.

The TUC says that such policies not only inflict ‘massive social costs on employees and the economy’, but also waste skills and training investment.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber says, 'Too many businesses adopt a knee-jerk reaction to cost management. Making redundancies is not the only option, nor is it the most efficient in the longer-term.

'We need to concentrate on finding alternatives that could avoid the huge waste of people and skills, and help businesses better respond to the upturn when it comes.’

These could include negotiating to share out the existing work more fairly and using creative solutions like sharing and seconding staff, Barber adds.

'There will still be times when redundancy is inevitable, but it should be the final option, not the first. All too often annual profits are aggressively managed simply to avoid taxation, rather than looking for smarter ways to reinvest into the workforce that created them.'

Four in five UK small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) believe that today’s postal rate change will have a negative impact on their company.

Of the 1,000 companies surveyed by Pitney Bowes, 7 per cent say that they fear their business may not survive the threat.

With first class stamps rocketing by 30 per cent, almost half (45 per cent) of the SMEs surveyed claim that they will be sending less post and using email to compensate for the lack of postal communications. A quarter say that they would start using second class post more frequently.

Almost three quarters (69 per cent) of those polled say that advance information provided to them was ‘poor and confusing’, and they were not aware that the changes would be so significant.

Phil Hutchison, marketing director of Pitney Bowes UK says, ‘The Royal Mail’s announcement is inevitably going to have an effect on Britain’s SMEs. One in two (50 per cent) of SMEs fear that the postal rate change will have a ‘big impact’ on their businesses, forcing them to change the way that they communicate with customers or even worse put their business under threat.

‘Successful customer communications depend on a delicate balance of message, medium and timing. Although digital communications undoubtedly have their place, traditional print campaigns are still critical for most businesses and are likely to remain so for many years to come.’

Few companies use formal procedures to tackle the problem of late payment, a survey finds.

According to a study of 500 businesses by credit referencing agency Graydon UK, 51 per cent of companies cite that the late payment of trade invoices is a problem, with 16 per cent saying they have almost been put out of business as a result.

However, less than half (44 per cent) employ formal credit control procedures, with 38 per cent instead relying on a mix of formal and informal processes and 16 per cent juggling payments on an ad-hoc basis.

Only a third (33 per cent) of respondents offer prompt payment incentives, while just 30 per cent using existing legislation to charge interest on late payers and 40 per cent opting for cash flow management software.

Gordon Skaljak, external spokesperson for Graydon UK, says, ‘The current economic climate makes it more important than ever that companies clearly understand the risks and opportunities associated with their operations. This includes identifying the cash flow and other risks triggered by the late payment of trade invoices by customers.

‘Companies cannot achieve sustainable growth if they aren't paid on time consistently. This is why having a formal credit management process based on reliable, accurate customer payment behaviour information is essential for businesses who want to transact with confidence and fulfill their sustainable growth potential.’

Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business adds, ‘We need to do two important things – first, communicate to business owners exactly what they can do proactively to minimise late payment, then we need to provide the support and services they need to make tackling late payment a standardised business process.

‘Second, we need to persuade large corporations to embrace paying their suppliers on time and in full, avoiding the temptation to impose damaging, retrospective changes to terms and conditions, so that prompt, proper payment washes down the supply chain.’

The UK has entered recession following GDP contracting by 0.2 per cent in the first three months of 2012.

The latest figure from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) comes after the economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

According to the ONS, the economic slump was driven by the construction sector, which saw output drop 3 per cent in the first quarter of the year, following a 0.2 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

Output of the production industries was down 0.4 per cent in the first three months after a 1.3 per cent decrease in the previous three-month period.

However, output from the services industries was up slightly by 0.1 per cent, a positive result after it dipped 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year.

John Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Industry says, ‘This disappointing news comes as something of a surprise. Since the turn of the year, business confidence has improved and, while still challenging, underlying economic conditions also appear to have strengthened.

‘In particular, the weakness of the services sector data does not tally closely with a range of survey indicators suggesting that the sector has been picking up through the first quarter.

Cridland adds that looking forward, there are indications that the economy is slowly recovering from the blow to confidence and activity which resulted from last autumn’s turmoil in Eurozone financial markets.