Barclays has launched an app-based invoicing platform for its small business customers.

The free service will enable users of the Barclays Mobile Banking app to create, send, track and manage invoices.

Customers will also be able to reconcile invoices by automatically matching payments received to invoices issued within the app.

Barclays is launching the new service alongside a report highlighting the pressures of paperwork and administrative tasks on small business owners and independent traders.

According to the research, invoicing costs businesses an average of £183.88 a month, amounting to £2,207 a year.

More than a third of those surveyed said invoicing had become so time consuming that they work at weekends due to a backlog of paperwork, with an average of 92 minutes spent invoicing per week.

A quarter of respondents still issue paper invoices in the post.

Ian Rand, chief executive of Barclays Business Banking, said: “We know that many business owners aren’t confined to an office, with long hours spent out and about seeing clients, they often find themselves sorting invoices manually when returning home in the evenings or at the weekend.”

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