Small businesses in Swindon and beyond which provide services to the borough council might soon get some help with their cash flow.

Councillors, eventually, agreed to a Labour proposal to look at shortening the time the council takes to pay its bills to small businesses in the area.

An amendment to a Conservative-proposed motion on the cost-of -living crisis was put forward by the leader of the Labour group Jim Robbins.

He said: “Small businesses know they can’t put up their prices to cover increased costs because their customers are having to spend more on their bills.

“This could put many businesses in a very difficult position. The government and the council rightly helped businesses through the pandemic, it makes no sense to let them  go to the wall because of this crisis.”

Initially, council leader David Renard said the Conservatives would oppose the amendment, which would see it fail.

But after a brief exchange, and an adjournment for negotiations, a new amendment was agreed.

It said: ”Small businesses in Swindon and across the country have been hugely affected by the pandemic and many have used a lot of their reserves in that time meaning that they are now more vulnerable to other financial pressures. A significant amount of public money was used to support local business through the pandemic.

“Following a meeting with FSB the Leader has asked the finance officer to investigate if invoices from small and medium enterprises could be paid within seven days and how the Council could encourage other large local businesses to do the same.”

Ruth Lambert, the development manager for the Wiltshire Federation of Small Business was thrilled.

She said: “This is great news. This is something which we had proposed because it’s something Somerset County Council has agreed to do.

“We suggested it to both Jim Robbins and David Renard when we met them recently, and we’re very happy that the council has agreed to look at shortening the payment period.

“If the council does so that it will make a real difference to a lot of businesses here in Wiltshire. Small businesses tend to have less in reserve than big ones, and helping them with their cash flow means they will be better able to pay their suppliers, or get more stock in, or pay staff or pay their bills.

“As things get tighter other businesses might start to pay their bills less frequently, so having the council pay more frequently will be a real help, and it could make all the difference to some businesses.”