The Table, No. 33: When payment waits, recovery waits

From the Founding Secretariat

Dear members and partners,

A rule can be proposed, debated and still leave a small business waiting. This week, two Reseated documents addressed that gap: a Secretariat statement on the stalled EU Late Payment Regulation and a Cashflow Council letter urging the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) to reach agreement.

The point is not that a letter settles a negotiation. It does not. The point is to keep a problem visible, connect it to the experience of owners, and ask the people with authority to act. Alongside that work, councils published session records and members submitted further evidence. Thank you to everyone who reported, reviewed and took part.

With respect,
The Founding Secretariat

The week at the table

The week’s lead item is late payment in Europe. On 22 September, the Secretariat issued RC/SEC/2026/6, On the stalled EU Late Payment Regulation. Two days later, the Cashflow Council sent RC/CF/2026/24 to DG GROW, urging agreement on the Regulation.

The sequence matters. A public statement sets out why the issue merits attention; a letter puts a request before an institution positioned to respond. Neither document should be read as a claim that agreement has been reached, or as a prediction about the negotiations. The Council’s request is for movement on a measure intended to address late payment. The immediate fact is that progress has stalled, and the Council has asked the Commission to help move the work forward.

For a small business, an overdue payment is not an abstract entry on a policy agenda. Cash expected on one date may already be allocated to wages, stock, rent or a supplier. When it does not arrive, the owner has to decide what to delay, what to borrow for, or which personal reserves to use. The cost can fall on a business that has completed its work but cannot control when the money reaches its account. That is why payment terms and enforcement are part of business continuity, not simply bookkeeping.

This week’s other publications show the breadth of the Assembly’s work. The Trade, Resilience, Red Tape and Team Councils each published a summary record of their eighth session. The Fellows roundtable also issued its seventh summary record. These records are part of the Assembly’s working trail: members should be able to follow what their councils have considered and see how evidence moves through the process.

Three evidence submissions were published: RC/FP/2026/S.4, “Clear terms when the rules change”; RC/RS/2026/S.4, “Continuity planning for a difficult season”; and RC/TM/2026/S.4, “Predictable work, workable schedules.” The submissions sit alongside, rather than replace, the pattern-review process. A single account can identify a question; the Assembly tests whether reports show sufficient volume, frequency, consistency, spread and corroboration before it advances a proposed fix.

Finally, the Resilience Council published RC/RS/2026/24, “After the storm — to owners rebuilding.” Its title is a reminder that recovery is not a moment but a stretch of work. The Assembly’s role is not to speak over owners rebuilding, but to make room for their experience and identify where practices or systems create avoidable obstacles.

By the numbers

As of 25 September, Reseated had 1,603 seated members in 49 countries. Members had filed 4,905 reports from 50 countries. The country totals describe different things: where members are seated, and where reports have come from.

Reports by council:

• Platform: 1,910
• Cashflow: 1,282
• Fair Play: 590
• Trade: 430
• Resilience: 272
• Red Tape: 268
• Team: 153

The council figures total 4,905. They are reports, not a count of unique businesses or a measure of how many owners experience each practice. Reports are the starting material for review; the five-part pattern test helps determine whether an issue is sufficiently recurring and corroborated to justify a draft fix.

That distinction matters. A high report count does not by itself establish that every member has had the same experience, and a smaller count does not mean an experience is unimportant. The process is designed to examine both the scale of a pattern and the consistency of what members describe.

From the table

An owner finishes a piece of work and sends the invoice on the agreed date. The expected payment is already part of the next month’s plan: it will cover a supplier bill, with enough left to keep the schedule moving. The payment does not arrive when expected. The owner follows up, but cannot give the supplier a firm date. To keep the relationship intact, the owner draws on a reserve and postpones a purchase that would have made the next job easier.

Nothing in that sequence looks dramatic from the outside. The business remains open; the work was completed. But the delay shifts the financing burden from the party that owes the money to the smaller business waiting for it. It also takes time away from running the business: checking, writing, explaining and recalculating. A late payment problem can therefore travel beyond one invoice, into planning, supplier relationships and an owner’s ability to take on work.

This is why Reseated asks for reports that describe practices, not just conclusions. Dates, steps taken, what changed and what the owner could not control can help distinguish a one-off difficulty from a recurring pattern. Please do not include your business name or another person’s private information unless you have a clear reason and permission to do so. Members remain anonymous unless they choose a public seat.

Coming up

The Fair Play Council’s consultation is scheduled to open on 13 October and run through 12 November. Members and other participants will be able to read the draft, comment on its proposed approach and identify where wording needs clarification. A consultation is not a ballot: it is an opportunity to improve a draft before members are asked to decide on it.

The Cashflow Council’s consultation on its draft has closed. The 362 comments received are now part of the work ahead. The next steps are review and revision before an Assembly decision; no adoption outcome should be assumed before a ballot is held and counted.

Open Table gatherings continue monthly. They are a place to hear how the process works, raise questions and learn how to submit useful evidence. Check the member notices for the next sitting and its time zone. If you cannot attend, written reports remain an important route into the councils’ work.

Across all of these steps, the sequence remains the same: reports, pattern test, draft fix, public consultation, Assembly ballot, then letters to the CEOs able to adopt the standard. Seats are tracked by status so members can see whether a letter has been sent, delivered, answered or signed—or whether the chair remains empty.

One thing you can do

If you have experienced a late payment, make a short record while the details are still clear: when payment was due, when it arrived (if it did), what follow-up took place, and what the delay changed for your business. Submit the account through the Cashflow Council’s reporting route. Keep it factual, remove identifying details you do not want shared, and say plainly if a date or amount is an estimate.

One report cannot decide a standard. A careful report can help the Assembly test whether a pattern exists—and make the case for a practical response when it does.