Most of what you read about business finance is written for the moment you’re looking to borrow — how to find a lender, which broker to use, what rate to expect. Far less gets written about the other side of that relationship: what to do when a contract you’ve already signed becomes hard to keep up with. That gap matters, because the businesses that get into difficulty and act early tend to come out the other side in much better shape than those that don’t.
Catching Trouble Before It’s a Crisis
The best time to deal with a cash flow problem is before it fully arrives. A simple rolling 12-week cash flow forecast — updated weekly, not just once a quarter — is often the difference between spotting a squeeze coming and being blindsided by it. It doesn’t need to be complicated: incomings, outgoings, and a running balance is enough to flag a dip while you’ve still got time to plan around it, rather than react to it.
Where to Get Real Advice
Search for “debt advice” and the top results are usually debt consolidation firms — companies that will happily take a fee to bundle your borrowing together. That’s not necessarily bad advice, but it is a sales pitch, not independent guidance.
Further down the page you’ll find the organisations that actually offer free, impartial help, with no product to sell:
- Stepchange Debt Charity
- PayPlan
- Citizens Advice
- Christians against Poverty
- The Debt Advice Foundation
- National Debtline
- Business Debtline
- Money Helper — the government-backed guidance service, and often the best first stop if you’re not sure who else to contact
These organisations exist specifically to help people and businesses work through debt without an agenda beyond getting you back on stable footing. Full contact details for each are available on our directory pages.
If Tax Is Part of the Problem
If VAT, PAYE or Corporation Tax arrears are part of what’s building up, it’s worth going straight to HMRC rather than letting it sit alongside everything else. HMRC offers Time to Pay arrangements, which let you spread tax debt into manageable instalments. Tax debt often behaves differently to commercial debt — HMRC can escalate faster than a typical lender — so this is usually the one to deal with first, not last.
Don’t Go Quiet on Your Lender — or Your Suppliers
The most common — and most damaging — response to financial difficulty is to say nothing and hope it resolves itself. It’s an understandable instinct, but it overlooks a basic fact: your lender doesn’t want you to default any more than you do.
A contract falling through costs the lender money too. They lose profit, they often have to pay a recovery agency to chase the debt, and the whole process eats time and resources on their end as well as yours. Given that, most lenders and brokers would much rather talk to you.
If you get in touch, they can often offer:
- Payment plans or restructured schedules
- Temporary payment breaks
- Amended terms that bring repayments back within reach
The same logic applies beyond your lender. Landlords and suppliers on payment terms are usually just as willing to talk — a short extension or a revised schedule agreed in advance costs them far less than chasing a late payment or losing you as a customer altogether.
The catch is timing. The more you owe and the longer a problem sits unaddressed, the fewer options anyone is able to offer. Acting early — ideally the moment you sense trouble ahead, rather than after you’ve missed a payment — keeps far more doors open.
Choosing Who You Get Advice From
Not everyone offering “debt help” is qualified to give it. If things have progressed to the point where formal restructuring might be needed — a Company Voluntary Arrangement, for example — that’s the territory of a licensed insolvency practitioner, not a generic debt management firm. Look for practitioners regulated by a recognised body such as the ICAEW or the IPA. Regulation matters here: it’s the difference between someone bound by professional standards and someone simply running a website.
A Word on Director Responsibilities
If a business is genuinely insolvent, directors have legal duties that kick in — and they’re not optional. Continuing to trade while insolvent, taking on new credit you can’t reasonably expect to repay, or ignoring professional advice can expose directors to personal liability, even where the company itself is limited. This isn’t meant to alarm anyone — most situations never get close to this point — but it’s exactly why getting proper legal or insolvency advice early is worth more than trying to muddle through alone.
The Bottom Line
If you’re struggling, a handful of moves matter more than anything else: keep an eye on cash flow before it becomes urgent, deal with HMRC arrears promptly, talk to an independent charity for advice, and talk to your lenders and suppliers before the situation escalates. None of this costs you anything to start, and all of it works far better the sooner you make the call.