King’s Speech – bill to tackle late payments and other points of interest for corporates

In the King’s Speech, which set out the government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming parliamentary session, the government announced legislation to tackle late payments and reform the competition regime, among other proposals. The Background Briefing Notes contain more detail on the proposals.

Late payments

The measures to tackle late payments in the Small Business Protections Bill (also known as the Commercial Payments Bill) include:

• maximum payment terms of 60 days, with exemptions when both parties are large companies, when the purchaser is the smaller party, or when the goods or services are being imported or exported;
• mandatory interest on late payments of 8% above the Bank of England base rate;
• requiring boards or audit committees of persistently late-paying large companies to publish commentary on their payment performance and intended actions to address it;
• giving the Small Business Commissioner new powers to investigate, adjudicate and fine businesses that persistently pay their suppliers late. 

The measures apply only to UK-to-UK business.

The Bill, which follows a previous government consultation on payment practices, was introduced in the House of Lords on 19 May 2026. See our blog post here for more information on the government’s response to its consultation.

Competition reform

The Competition Reform Bill will aim to improve decision-making at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), building on changes already made by the CMA. It will also provide more clarity about whether a merger is likely to be reviewed in the UK and introduce more flexibility into the review process. See our blog post here for more detail on the government’s previous consultation on competition reform.

Other measures of interest to corporates

Other bills mentioned in the King’s Speech include:

• a bill to modernise the UK;s regulatory system to help deliver growth and support innovation;
• a Financial Services and Markets Bill which will modernise how the sector is regulated, enable it to grow and make consumer protections fit for the digital age;
• a bill to clean up the water industry, with a new water regulator that will bring together the relevant functions of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England;
• an Energy Independence Bill to accelerate the UK's drive for energy security and facilitate the transition to clean energy; and
• a bill to take forward recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review.

There was no mention of audit or governance reform, nor potential company law reform in relation to virtual shareholder meetings or the implementation of the recommendations of the Secondary Capital Raising Review (see our blog post here for further details).