A study by invoice finance specialists Access Commercial Finance has found that during this time, freelancers will be chasing an average of three overdue payments.

Over three-fifths of freelancers (62%) have at least one overdue invoice at any one given time.

More than three-quarters of freelancers (77%) said that chasing outstanding invoices was the most stressful part of their job, while over half (54%) reported that they budgeted for late payments.

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Matt Haycox, funding consultant at Access Commercial Finance, said: “The fact that freelancers are actually budgeting to cover late payments is a disgrace.”

The worst offenders for late invoice payments were the fashion industry, higher education sector and local authorities, with large organisations being significantly more likely to pay late.

Matt added: “In many cases freelancers will have already paid for their own training and development and businesses benefit from access to that highly skilled worker without shouldering any of the development cost.

“Freelancers don’t get holiday or sick pay and rarely have the resources to chase down late payers.

“Businesses of all sizes, but especially larger organisations with less nimble accounts processes, need to recognise the importance [of] paying freelancers on time.

“Not doing so puts these workers at real risk of hardship and could even force some of them out of self-employment, depriving us all of their hard-earned skills and talent.”