Our commitment to the Prompt Payment Code
‘The Prompt Payment Code (PPC) is a voluntary code of practice for businesses, administered by the Office of the Small Business Commissioner on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). It sets standards for payment practices between organisations of any size and their suppliers.
The Office of the Small Business Commissioner is responsible for regulation and governance of the PPC and of signatories of the code. It has the power to determine which companies become signatories and to then investigate any complaints concerning those signatories.
The code covers prompt payment, as well as wider payment procedures. Code signatories undertake to:
- Pay suppliers on time
- Give clear guidance to suppliers
- Support good practice throughout their supply chain by encouraging adoption of the code
It requires signatories to undertake to pay 95% of invoices within a maximum of 60 days, work towards adopting 30 days as the norm and avoid any practices that adversely affect the supply chain.
Becoming a signatory of the PPC, and committing to good payment practices, benefits both suppliers and customers and is fundamental to bringing about a culture change in late payment and in helping to boost the economy.
Helen Windle, FCCA, Chief Financial Officer at Indesser states:
"Signing up to the Prompt Payment Code is a commitment to our supply chain that we are proud to make public. The partnership between Indesser and our supply chain of FCA-accredited Debt Collection Agencies and other suppliers is hugely important to us. I am pleased to say that Indesser is already compliant with the Code as we already make payments to our suppliers within contractual term and pay over 95% of invoices within 60 days. However, COVID-19 has placed additional burdens on our supply chain, including the need for them to re-engineer their businesses to adapt. During lockdown we continue to work with impacted suppliers to do what we can to support them. This has emphasised the importance of the partnerships we have built with our supply chain over the last five years."
We are working hard to support our supply chain as best we can through prompt payments, but if you are one of our suppliers and are experiencing payment issues, we would invite you to contact us to let us know. We will do our very best to resolve any issues and your feedback will help us to onstantly improve our payment processes.
Any suppliers with a payment dispute or that cannot be resolved by Indesser, are encouraged to use the disputes process on the Prompt Payment Code website , where your challenge will be investigated by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management.
Businesses can use the newly introduced Payment Practices Reporting website to find out more information about the payment behaviour of larger businesses and the Small Business Commissioner website to find out further advice on resolving payment issues.
Public Procurement Review Service
For additional piece of mind the Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS) allows government suppliers and potential government suppliers to raise concerns anonymously about potential poor public sector procurement practice.
The Public Procurement Review Service investigate and aim to resolve enquiries that satisfy certain criteria, which are set out below. They welcome enquiries from suppliers who have concerns about the conduct of a procurement process which they have been part of, or which they wish to participate in.
Enquiries must relate to specific procurement and must have taken place in the last two years and either:
- Concerns an English contracting authority as defined by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
- Concerns a supply chain issue that relates to a contract let by an English contracting authority as defined by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
- Concerns the late payment (i.e. not paid within 30 calendar days or any earlier payment date as stated in the contract terms) of valid and undisputed invoices on a public sector contract. This would also include late payment issues within the supply chain.
Secondly the enquiry should concern procurement practice, and should highlight a potential conflict with best practice or the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (2006 for older contracts). This can be at any stage of the procurement. For example:
- Pre-procurement activities
- Advertising of contracts
- Timescales
- Formal tendering processes
- The management of contracts, including payments to suppliers and subcontractors
The role of the Public Procurement Review Service is to investigate suitable cases raised to them and to highlight improvements that could be made to procurement practices.
PPRS is a free service and suppliers can remain anonymous, if they want to. Last year 100% of the service’s recommendations were accepted by contracting authorities.
Figures from Crown Commercial Service suggest that suppliers have been helped to reclaim over £8 million from more than 350 late payment cases, and the service has a 100% success rate for releasing payments on undisputed invoices.*
Use the Public Procurement Review Service by sending an email to publicprocurementreview@cabinetoffice.gov.uk or by telephoning our helpdesk on 0345 010 3503.
*Source: https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/news/public-procurement-review-service