Skip to content
Haslam Consult

Invoice finance brokerage · United Kingdom

The work is done.The cash shouldn’t wait.

Solutions

  1. 01Invoice finance
  2. 02Invoice factoring
  3. 03Invoice discounting

Haslam Consult helps UK businesses explore invoice finance: facilities that release working capital from the customer invoices you have already raised, rather than waiting 30, 60 or 90 days to be paid.

Explore your optionsHow invoice finance works

01In one sentence

Invoice finance allows eligible businesses to access part of the value of outstanding customer invoices before those invoices are paid. Haslam Consult helps you work out whether it fits, which structure suits, and which providers are worth talking to.

What invoice finance isHow we work

02The gap

You’ve done the work. You’ve raised the invoice. Now you wait.

Thirty days. Sixty. Ninety, sometimes more. The invoice is an asset, but it is not cash, and the business keeps spending in the meantime.

Day 1Day 90
  1. Day 1, Overheads
  2. Day 2
  3. Day 3
  4. Day 4
  5. Day 5
  6. Day 6
  7. Day 7, Suppliers
  8. Day 8
  9. Day 9
  10. Day 10, Stock
  11. Day 11
  12. Day 12
  13. Day 13
  14. Day 14, Materials
  15. Day 15
  16. Day 16
  17. Day 17
  18. Day 18
  19. Day 19
  20. Day 20
  21. Day 21, Suppliers
  22. Day 22
  23. Day 23
  24. Day 24
  25. Day 25
  26. Day 26
  27. Day 27
  28. Day 28, Payroll
  29. Day 29
  30. Day 30
  31. Day 31, Overheads
  32. Day 32
  33. Day 33
  34. Day 34
  35. Day 35, Suppliers
  36. Day 36
  37. Day 37
  38. Day 38
  39. Day 39
  40. Day 40
  41. Day 41
  42. Day 42, Materials
  43. Day 43
  44. Day 44
  45. Day 45, Growth
  46. Day 46
  47. Day 47
  48. Day 48
  49. Day 49, Suppliers
  50. Day 50, Stock
  51. Day 51
  52. Day 52
  53. Day 53
  54. Day 54
  55. Day 55
  56. Day 56, Payroll
  57. Day 57
  58. Day 58
  59. Day 59
  60. Day 60
  61. Day 61, Overheads
  62. Day 62
  63. Day 63, Suppliers
  64. Day 64
  65. Day 65
  66. Day 66
  67. Day 67
  68. Day 68
  69. Day 69
  70. Day 70, Materials
  71. Day 71
  72. Day 72
  73. Day 73
  74. Day 74
  75. Day 75
  76. Day 76
  77. Day 77, Suppliers
  78. Day 78
  79. Day 79
  80. Day 80
  81. Day 81
  82. Day 82
  83. Day 83
  84. Day 84, Payroll
  85. Day 85
  86. Day 86
  87. Day 87
  88. Day 88
  89. Day 89
  90. Day 90, customer pays

Money leaves the business most weeks. On typical terms, the invoice comes back once.

Meanwhile, still to be paid

  • Payroll
  • Suppliers
  • Stock
  • Materials
  • Overheads
  • Growth

That gap between work completed and cash received is what invoice finance is designed to bridge.

How it does that

03The solution

Invoice finance, in plain terms.

A provider advances a proportion of the value of eligible invoices. The balance, less fees, follows when your customer pays. There are two common ways to structure it.

Funding basis

Finance against eligible invoices.

Credit control

The provider commonly supports or manages collections.

Customer awareness

Customers are commonly aware that a facility is in place.

Reporting

Generally lighter, as the provider runs the ledger.

Often considered by

Smaller or growing businesses without in-house credit control.

Descriptions reflect how facilities commonly operate. Terms, confidentiality and eligibility vary between providers and are set by them.

Not sure which? Start here

04How it works

Five steps, in order.

We start with the business, not the product. The funding conversation comes after we understand what the funding is for.

  1. Step 01: Understand the business

    What you sell, who you sell to, how you invoice, and where the pressure on cash actually sits. Funding conversations that skip this tend to go wrong later.

  2. Step 02: Understand the funding requirement

    How much, for what, and for how long. Sometimes the honest answer is that invoice finance is not the right tool, and it is better to know that early.

  3. Step 03: Explore suitable facility structures

    Factoring or discounting. Disclosed or confidential. Whole ledger or selective. Each has implications for cost, control and how customers experience it.

  4. Step 04: Review appropriate options

    Providers’ terms compared side by side, in plain English: advance rates, fees, conditions and the things that only matter once you are inside the facility.

  5. Step 05: Move forward with the selected provider

    Support through the provider’s own process, from information requests to documentation, so the business knows what is being asked and why.

Timing depends on the business, the information available and the provider’s own process.

The process in detail

05When it is used

Six situations we see often.

Invoice finance is a working-capital tool. These are the circumstances in which businesses tend to look at it.

  1. Revenue is growing faster than available cash

    Each new order needs wages, materials and time before it becomes an invoice, and then a further wait before it becomes cash. Growth is expensive to fund from the balance sheet alone.

  2. Staff need paying before customer invoices clear

    Weekly or monthly payroll does not move because a customer pays in sixty days. Labour-heavy businesses feel this most.

  3. Inventory must be bought ahead of customer payment

    Stock is paid for on the supplier’s terms and sold on the customer’s. The gap between the two is the working capital requirement.

  4. New work creates a working-capital requirement

    A large contract is good news that costs money first. The cash to deliver it is needed before the invoices it generates are paid.

  5. Customers operate on 30 to 90 day terms

    Larger customers often set the terms. The business either absorbs the wait or finds a way to fund it.

  6. An existing arrangement needs reviewing or replacing

    Facilities that fitted three years ago may not fit now. Fees, limits and service can all be reviewed against the current market.

06Who we help

RecruitmentManufacturingTransport & LogisticsWholesaleEngineeringSecurityPrintingBusiness ServicesDistribution

Invoice finance is generally relevant where a business sells to other businesses on credit terms and invoices for completed work or delivered goods. Suitability depends on the business, its customers and its invoices, and every provider applies its own criteria.

Sectors and suitability

07Why a broker

Between your business and the provider.

Going directly to one lender gets you one lender’s view. A broker’s job is to understand the requirement first, then find the structures and providers that fit it.

Your business

The requirement

Haslam Consult

Understanding, structure, comparison

Finance providers

Facility, terms, funding

  1. 01

    The requirement comes first

    We start with the business and what it needs, not with a product.

  2. 02

    Structures explained plainly

    Factoring, discounting, confidential, selective: what each means for cost, control and customers.

  3. 03

    Appropriate providers identified

    Providers differ in sector appetite, minimum size and approach. We help find the ones that fit.

  4. 04

    Terms compared properly

    Advance rates, fees and conditions set side by side so the comparison is real.

  5. 05

    The detail, translated

    Concentration limits, recourse, notice periods. The things that matter once the facility is live.

  6. 06

    Support through the process

    From first conversation to a facility in place, we stay involved.

Haslam Consult is a brokerage and does not itself provide finance. Any facility is offered by a third-party provider, subject to its own assessment and terms.

08Insights

Reading, before deciding.

All insights
  1. 01Factoring or discounting? The distinction that actually matters2 min
  2. 02What a provider looks at before offering a facility2 min
  3. 03Reading an invoice finance agreement: the terms worth understanding2 min

09Next

Start with a conversation.

No application form, no obligation. Tell us about the business and the requirement, and we will tell you honestly whether invoice finance is worth exploring.

Discuss your optionsContact

What happens when you get in touch

  1. 01A short conversation about the business, its customers and how it invoices.
  2. 02We work out whether invoice finance is a realistic fit, and which structure.
  3. 03If it is, we outline the options and the providers worth approaching. If it is not, we say so.