Advocate for small businesses says more owners are pleading for help amid payment pain

Pleas for help from distressed business owners around payment disputes and insolvencies have ticked up amid a challenging operating environment with higher costs.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman received 6254 requests for assistance in 2023-24, up 10 per cent from the previous year.

Requests for help with insolvency — either from those considering insolvency, or those worried an insolvent business owed them money — also posted a 50 per cent jump over the period.

The ombudsman, Bruce Billson, said payment disputes were an early warning sign of a cashflow problem and could have a ripple effect that threatened the viability of other businesses.

“Payment disputes are by far the greatest area of concern for small and family businesses and now account for 42 per cent of assistance cases, up from 36 per cent last year,” he said.

“The construction industry had the highest number of payment disputes while in the hospitality area the number has tripled over the past 12 months.”

The survey on Monday also revealed about 20 per cent of requests for assistance related to contract disputes, while 9 per cent involved a franchise disagreement — typically relating to contract renewals, breach of franchise agreement or early termination.