More businesses penalised for payment abuse

Highways maintenance contractor F M Conway is one of Eleven firms – including several big names within the military, aerospace and defence sectors – that have been suspended from the Prompt Payment Code for failing to pay suppliers on time, the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) has revealed.

The Code is administered by the CICM, who are independent from government, on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Signatories pledge to uphold its best practice for payment standards to end the culture of late payment.

In addition CICM announced that 14 businesses have been re-instated to the Code since the last announcement in November 2019.  Businesses being reinstated include Balfour Beatty, Engie, Ferrovial, John Sisk, Kier Construction, Galliford Try, Laing O’Rourke, and Persimmon

The CICM’s Chief Executive Philip King, who chairs the Prompt Payment Code’s Compliance Board, and was recently appointed to the role of interim Small Business Commissioner said: “We will continue to challenge signatories to the Code if the obligatory Payment Practice Reporting data suggests that their practices are not compliant. We are encouraged by those who have already submitted action plans to achieve future compliance, and we are working closely with those businesses to support a better payment culture.”

Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst said: “A growing number of businesses have signed up to the Code, a great sign that we are starting to change the culture of late payments. It’s encouraging to see businesses reinstated after improving their practices, but we’ll continue to clamp down on late payment to support small businesses that are exploited by their larger partners.”