Chasing late payments, unclear contracts, no transparency of budgets, new contract terms introduced at the point of purchase orders – or simply being asked to work for free. These are all concerns that illustrators share with freelancers across sectors.  

The AOI, along with our friends at the AOP, have raised these concerns with the Office of the Small Business Commissioner (SBC). The SBC is an independent public body, set up by Government, specifically to tackle late payment and unfavourable payment practices in the private sector in the UK.

We are looking forward to working with the SBC on these issues- but in the meantime, if you have a problem with payment from a large business (with over 50 employees) please contact the SBC copying us in. The SBC can make non-binding recommendations on how parties can resolve their disputes, and will investigate complaints.

If you would like to speak to the AOI before contacting them, email Derek.

In the meantime, we’ve also got a great resource on chasing late payments. Give it a read!