Who has to report on payment practices, and what the report must include

Updated 19 October 2026. Official sources checked 19 October 2026.

Step by step: the free official route

1. Check that the business is the right kind of entity

   The duty applies to companies formed and registered under the Companies Act 2006 (or earlier Companies Acts) and LLPs registered under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000, whether private, public or quoted. It does not apply to companies incorporated under another country's laws, including overseas companies registered at Companies House, or to unlimited liability partnerships.

2. Apply the size test to the last two balance sheet dates

   A business is in scope for a financial year if, on its last two balance sheet dates, it exceeded two or all three of the medium-sized company thresholds in section 465(3) of the Companies Act 2006. From 6 April 2025 those are £54 million annual turnover (was £36 million), £27 million balance sheet total (was £18 million) and 250 employees (unchanged). Where the thresholds change, the new figures are applied to the preceding two years for the test. In its second financial year a business looks at its first-year figures only.

3. Report company by company, and check the parent rules

   Reports are prepared for each company or LLP on its own, not for a group; a group-level report does not meet the requirement. A parent company or parent LLP with subsidiaries must report if both the parent itself and the group it heads meet the criteria, and the thresholds that apply to a parent are different.

4. Work out the reporting periods and deadlines

   There are normally two reporting periods per financial year, and each report must be published within 30 days of the end of its period. Our free deadline calculator works out the periods and dates from your financial year.

5. Gather the figures and statements

   For qualifying contracts, each report needs: the average number of days taken to pay, measured from receipt of the invoice to the supplier receiving the cash; the percentage of payments made in 30 days or fewer, 31 to 60 days, and 61 days or longer; the percentage of payments due in the period that were not paid within the agreed terms; narrative on standard and maximum payment terms, changes to them and how suppliers were told, and the dispute resolution process; and tick-box statements on e-invoicing, supply chain finance, charges for staying on a supplier list, and payment code membership.

   For financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025, reports also include the total value of payments made in the period and the percentage of payments not paid within agreed terms because of a dispute. For financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2025, businesses with qualifying construction contracts also report on retention clauses.

6. Get director approval and publish on GOV.UK

   The report must be approved by a named director (or designated member of an LLP) and published on the government's web service. Failing to publish within the 30-day filing period is a criminal offence by the business and every director or designated member, and knowingly or recklessly publishing a false or misleading report is also an offence; both are punishable on summary conviction by a fine.

What the free tools do, and what they leave to you

GOV.UK publishes the guidance and the reporting service free, and anyone can check when large businesses pay their suppliers. The work falls on the business: pulling invoice and payment data from the accounts payable system, measuring each payment from the invoice date, bucketing it, and doing this every six months for each company in the group.