UK businesses are paying their bills up to three days faster than they did this time last year.
According to the latest Late Payment Index from Experian, during January to March this year businesses settled their bills an average of 20.93 days late compared to 23.61 days late in the same period last year.

Greater London saw the greatest Q1 2009 to Q1 2010 improvement - from 28.73 days to 23.89 days.

Experian head of commercial credit Joe Myers said: "This is a positive step for businesses, mirrored by a stabilisation in business insolvencies over the last year. Businesses of all sizes know the impact a late payment can have on their cash flow and also just how important it is to regularly monitor a customer's ability to pay on time."

In terms of size of business, only the smallest businesses saw improvements from the last quarter in 2009. The biggest increase in overdue days during that period came from businesses with 26 to 50 employees - from 18.96 days to 19.36 days.