Four Large players within the UK’s construction industry have been suspended from the Prompt Payment Code. Persistent late payments to sub contractors and suppliers and have lead to the suspension.
The Prompt Payment Code is administered and monitored by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM). This is conducted on behalf of the government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Companies that sign up to the code pledge to uphold a level of best practice for payment standards to end the culture of late payment.
The companies found to be in infringement of the code are Kier, Seddon Construction and McNicholas Construction Services, They have been removed from the Prompt Payment Code for failing to pay 95% of all supplier invoices within 60 days.
However, several construction companies have been reinstated after demonstrating improvement since their suspension earlier this year. The reinstated companies include Costain, Interserve, Alun Griffiths, Kellogg Brown & Root and Severfield (Design & Build) Ltd.
The Prompt Payment Code’s compliance board, chaired by CICM chief executive Philip King, regularly reviews the status of organisations to ensure they are upholding their commitments.
Any Businesses that suspended from the Code are then invited to produce an action plan. This action plan needs to demonstrate substantial improvements in payment performance. This can then lead to them being reinstated to the code as soon as they show compliance.
