With current market conditions continuing to put a strain on businesses, the government should offer more support to protect small businesses from the negative impact of late payments, a survey reveals.

The latest survey of credit management professionals, conducted jointly by the Institute of Credit Management (ICM) and leading business information provider, Equifax, shows a huge increase in the use of credit data compared to 2010, as businesses look to reduce their risk of bad debt.

In the survey of ICM members, 86% said they use credit and business data checks for new customers and suppliers, compared to just 37% last year. And 85% use data for ongoing monitoring, but only 41% said the same a year ago.

The call for more government support comes from 65% of respondents. This is down on the 77% who said the same last year, but clearly shows a significant level of dissatisfaction.

In 2010, 59% reported an increase in late payments that year, but this is down slightly to 52% in 2011. Over a third (36%) are chasing late payments up to three days sooner than they were a year ago, up slightly on 2010. And 20% are chasing four days sooner, compared to 29% 12 months ago.

Late payments remain a major issue for businesses, which accounts for the sharp increase in the use of data checks and ongoing monitoring, as firms keep a closer eye on new and existing customers and suppliers.

Key findings of the survey show that the threat of redundancy has decreased. In 2010 63% of those surveyed said their company had made redundancies, but this figure has dropped to 44% in 2011. With a focus on credit management, these roles remain key for many businesses with 77% saying their department was not affected by redundancies, up 5% on the previous year.