Natural England - Prompt payment of suppliers
Prompt payment of suppliers
Natural England aims to reduce invoice payment times to 10 working days.
We apply this approach to all suppliers of goods and services but will not be changing our existing contractual terms and conditions.
Guidance for suppliers on the correct way to submit an invoice is included below.
The Prompt Payment Code is another critical step in a series of structured initiatives devised by the government with The Institute of Credit Management (ICM) to tackle the crucial issue of late payment and help small businesses especially. It’s principles are included below.
Guidance for Suppliers
Suppliers who have provided goods or services to Natural England must follow the guidance below when submitting their invoice for payment.
Invoice content
Suppliers’ invoices should include the following information:
Date of invoice;
Supplier name and contact details;
A valid purchase order number provided by Natural England (if a valid purchase order is not provided the invoice may be returned unpaid);
The agreed charge (and where not complete a breakdown of the relevant work or services as they relate to this charge or an explanation of a difference in expected charge);
It will also be helpful if the invoice contains:
Confirmation that the services detailed have been fully performed;
Supplier bank details.
Billing address
All invoices should be sent to the following address:
Natural England
Defra Shared Services Directorate
Lion House
Willowburn Trading Estate
Alnwick
Northumberland
NE66 2PF
If the above guidance is followed Natural England will regard the invoice as being correctly rendered.
Natural England will aim to pay a correctly rendered, valid invoice as soon as possible with a target of 10 days from date of receipt and within 30 days at the latest in line with our standard terms and conditions.
Suppliers should note that the date of invoice receipt is defined as the date of receipt at the above address.
If an invoice is disputed you will be informed and given the relevant contact details for further enquiries. In such cases the payment target will be frozen whilst the dispute is resolved.
If your invoice was legitimate and correctly submitted and we took over 30 days to pay it you may have recourse through the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
Payment Method
All supplier invoices will be paid by BACS. Suppliers must provide their bank details prior to the issue of an order.
Prompt Payment Guidance for Public Sector Organisations
Date of Issue: 12 December 2008, Version 1.0
Introduction
On the 8th October 2008 the Prime Minister committed Government organisations to speeding up the payments process, paying suppliers wherever possible within 10 days.
The standard terms and conditions in most HMG contracts and the legislative periods within the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 will remain at 30 days.
Key Points
There should be no reduction in the standard of financial control. Any revised processes should comply with the principles outlined in Managing Public Money, Box 4.4.
The aim of this HMG policy is to speed up cash flow from HMG to its suppliers, particularly SMEs. This means that:
Efforts should be made to resolve all payment related disputes quickly. Suppliers should be informed as soon as possible if an invoice is in dispute and of the reason why a dispute has been raised.
Although grants are excluded from the prompt payment initiative, organisations should ensure that all their payment processes, including those for grants, are as efficient as possible, particularly where SMEs are the recipients.
Each organisation is responsible for communicating with its own suppliers to ensure that they understand the processes involved and know how to escalate issues if they arise.
Timing
The days will be counted from the date of receipt at the organisation’s designated address.
Payment should arrive in the destination bank account on or before the 10th working day thereafter.
The target applies to valid invoices rendered to the correct address - organisations are responsible for making sure their own suppliers understand their criteria for these two conditions to be met.
Late Payment
The government introduced the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, which gave small firms with 50 or less employees a statutory right to interest for the late payment of commercial debts. This statutory right to interest and other new entitlements have been available to all businesses and public sector bodies since 7 August 2002.
A guidance booklet, A User's Guide to Late Payment Legislation is available. Alternatively copies can be ordered from the Publications Orderline by calling 0870 1502 500, quoting URN 02/883.
The late payment legislation does not prevent businesses from setting, and agreeing with customers, their own terms of business including the level of interest to be charged on late payment.
Leaflets providing guidance on all aspects of recovering debts through the courts are available from the Court Service or from county courts.
The Law Society operates the Lawyers For Your Business scheme, offering a free consultation with a solicitor. Details of the scheme can be found on the Law Society website.
