Updated from the government's own filings
Every large UK business is legally required to publish how long it takes to pay its suppliers, and what share of invoices it pays late. Almost nobody reads those filings. We put them all in one table.
| # | Company | Avg days to pay |
Paid late |
|---|
Read the top of this table with care. A reported average is the average across every invoice a business paid, including invoices from companies inside its own group. Several of the slowest figures here are driven by long intra-group terms rather than by how the business treats independent suppliers - the standard terms column and the company's own filing usually say so. Always open the filing before drawing a conclusion about any single company.
Two numbers matter and they are not the same. Average time to pay is how long the company actually takes. Percentage paid late is how often it misses its own agreed terms. A business can pay in 60 days and never be late, because it wrote 60-day terms into the contract. That is not lateness, it is a policy - and for a supplier it is arguably worse, because there is nothing to complain about.
So sort by both. The companies that are slow and unreliable are at the top of the first list. The companies that simply impose long terms show up under standard terms. Payment terms beyond 60 days are subject to restrictions under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
The Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017 require large UK businesses and LLPs to report twice a year on their payment practices and performance. A business must report if it exceeds two of three thresholds: £54 million turnover, £27 million balance sheet total, and 250 employees. The reports are published on the government's check-payment-practices service and exported here in full, unedited. Every row links back to the company's own filing.
The figures are self-reported by the businesses themselves. We publish them as filed and do not adjust them.
If the companies you invoice take 60 days to pay, that gap is your working capital, not theirs. Compare invoice finance facilities from UK lenders against your own ledger.
Compare facilitiesSource: Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017, published via the government's payment practices service. Figures are as filed by the reporting business for the stated period. Built and maintained by Factor Now. Corrections: [email protected]