Why I really signed up to the Fair Payment Code

Earlier this year I became one of the first businesses in the UK (and the first sole trader) to be certificated by the new Fair Payment Code (and at the top tier level, too!). 

This new standard is part of the government's wider attempts and efforts to encourage business growth, investment, etc by helping to make sure money is flowing around our economy in ways that benefit all of us (and isn't getting 'stuck' in the pockets of a few bigger businesses, at the expenses of the lots and lots of small businesses who collectively employ most people).

Over the first few months since the Code (and its first cohort of pioneer awardees) was officially launched, I've seen lots of my fellow certificated businesses share the reasons why they chose to submit themselves to the rigour and scrutiny that the application process for it entails.  Most of these are probably what you'd expect:

- it helps them build more resilient supply chains;

- it makes them more trustworthy with commissioners, investors, etc

- and it helps them better attract talent when they're recruiting, by showing how they're a firm you wouldn't be embarrassed to work for.

However, as you might expect, my motivations were a little different: 

I've always been open in stating my intention to pay all invoices within 24 hours of my receiving them, which has led to my current recognition by the Organisation for Responsible Businesses; the Good Business Charter; PayOnTime; and the previous government Prompt Payment Code.

And that's because ultimately I don't want to be a d*ck - I hate it when I'm paid late by my clients, so why would I further their bad practices by making others similarly suffer when I could do something about it?

I also saw lots of the other big businesses alongside me on the initial list of awardees patting themselves on the back for getting the bronze and silver levels of certification (which means they pay up to 90 days after you give them your bill). But if I can hit gold (guaranteed paying within 30 days) without having dedicated finance managers, access to investment and bank loans, etc in the way they have, then how come my practices are somehow so much better than theirs?

What's stopping bigger businesses from hoarding cash, which not only causes more smaller firms like ours to increase the risk of going bust, but also contributes to likelihood of the wider economy going into a recession, which would hurt all of us?

* recessions aren't caused by an economy running out of money, but by people and businesses stopping spending money in it - like not paying their bills when they're supposed to...

all social impact is built on sh!t

Each year I openly publish an impact report on myself.

And as this is my 20th year in business, it's gotten me thinking not just about the legacies of the impacts we create, but also what the foundations for these changes we're making are.

As some will know, I decided to mark the official anniversary of my business not with fanfare, speeches, or grand gestures like sending everyone cake, but a simple flush of my office toilet - to mark it being twinned with a school latrine block in Uganda. In doing so, I'm trying to help recognise the dignity of that generation, and help them to remain in education. And through this, my hope is that they'll be subsequently able to create more impact for their families and communities that they would otherwise, if they weren't able to remain in school for reasons of hygiene and sanitation.

So essentially, I'm creating impact by starting with sh!t.

Which has made me wonder - just as there's Maslow's hierarchy of needs (i.e. you can't sustainably progress to building esteem until you feel safe, both physically and emotionally), is there a comparable hierarchy of impact that we can/should create?

Lots of initiatives to help transform lives and communities seem to be designed in the assumption that the people they're designed for will be able to relatively easily engage with them (the biggest barriers usually identified being child-care, and transport) - but what if we more explicitly mapped out how people can engage and move through the stages of creating impact?

In the UK there are actually very few legal rights and protections for people to have access to a toilet, unless it's in their own home or direct place work - so when we're trying to create impact for communities, how far how we considered their needs to 'take a dump', and how far that may be stopping them from being able to become part of something that will make things better in the future? 

p.s. - you can get the latest full impact report here: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dybBV3fIqIPz9k14hs3YxBOIFZ_EKspT/view?usp=sharing