Sainsbury’s enters the Forum’s Hall of Shame after extending payment times by 150 percent

Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has been named and shamed by the Forum of Private Business for having increased all non-food supplier payment times from 30 to 75 days.

The supermarket told those affected last month in a letter it was set to make the dramatic increase following a review which found their standard 30-day payment times differed from industry standards.

The move has, however, seen the Forum enter the grocer in to its Hall of Shame to join the likes of Dell, Argos, and Carlsberg, who have all previously increased supplier payment times retrospectively.

“Sainsbury’s might like to promote themselves as the ethical supermarket, but when it comes to their treatment of suppliers they are anything but, says the Forum’s Policy Adviser, Robert Downes.

“No right thinking person could justify what Sainsbury’s is proposing ­ a 150 percent increase in the time it takes them to pay a supplier for goods provided ­ as being fair and decent.

“With startling arrogance they have then tried to justify this increase by claiming 75 days is the industry standard. This is utter fabrication.

“This kind of borrowing from suppliers ­ whatever their size ­ is scandalous, particularly from a profitable FTSE 100 company like Sainsbury’s, who are in no way financially challenged, but clearly just greedy.”

Research carried out by Bacs has shown around £37 billion is owed to small firms in unpaid invoices in the UK at any one time, with slow payment a major headache for the supply chain.

Signing up to the Prompt Payment Code ­ like Tesco have done ­ helps safeguard firms and promotes best practice, the Forum says.

Added Downes, the Forum’s Policy Adviser, says that when suppliers receive a letter like the one Sainsbury’s sent out, few have any choice but to agree to the new payment terms: “There is little room for bargaining through fear they will lose the business, and no small firm in the current economic climate wants that.

“For the sake of small businesses and the economy, the Government must prioritise tackling the culture of poor payment, addressing the bully boy behaviour of these bigger companies.”