Nine in ten councils breach
late payment rules
July 2018

Nearly nine out of ten local authorities(89%) are failing in their legal duty to monitor whether contractors are getting paid within 30 days for construction work, according to data obtained by Freedom of Information requests by two trade bodies, it was revealed this week.

The figures further show that almost half (49%) do not have – or don’t know whether they have – a built in contractual requirement for 30-day payment and almost one in five (18%) say they have no intention of building-in such requirements.

This is contrary to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 which state that 30 day payment down the supply chain is mandatory, and that public bodies should take steps to ensure this takes place. The Building Engineering Services Association and Electrical Contractors’ Association, which made the FoI requests, say this shows that many councils are not meeting their legal requirements. 

Rob Driscoll, Deputy Director of Business and Policy at ECA, said: “Non-compliance by the public sector with the Public Contracts Regulations is unacceptable. If Government purports to support fairer payment practices, these findings show that there is work to be done. 

Alexi Ozioro, Public Affairs and Policy Manager at the BESA, added: “The Chancellor has highlighted the need to tackle late payments and a Crown Commercial Services consultation even poses excluding bad payers from public contracts. We applaud the Government for engaging with the poor payment debate, but it is about time action matched words.” 

Both trade bodies are among more than 80 trade associations and professional bodies and over 180 MPs from all parties supporting the progress of a parliamentary bill launched by Peter Aldous MP, which calls for cash retentions to be held in trust.