Healthy cash flow is critical for small business survival and growth. Late and long payment times disrupt the cash flow cycle and can prevent a business from paying its bills, eventually leading to business failure. In 2023 15% of small businesses and medium-sized enterprises cited cash flow and late payments as an obstacle to running their businesses.

The new Fair Payment Code has been launched to encourage businesses across the UK to pay promptly.
 

TDX Group's Commitment

The Fair Payment Code (FPC) is a UK government initiative, replacing the Prompt Payment Code, that encourages businesses to pay suppliers on time through a voluntary, tiered awards system (Bronze, Silver, Gold) based on payment speed, aiming to improve cash flow and supply chain health. Companies commit to clear, fair, and collaborative practices, paying 95% of invoices within 30 or 60 days depending on their award level, with penalties for non-compliance and public listing of signatories. 

Signatories agree to be clear, fair, and collaborative with suppliers, ensuring consistent communication about payment processes.

Becoming a signatory of the Fair Payment Code, 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.

"Being a signatory to the Fair Payment Code is a commitment to our supply partners that we are proud to make public. For over a decade we have collaborated with our supply partners of FCA authorised Debt Collection Agencies and Litigation providers, our collective partnership is hugely important to us. We are pleased to say that TDX Group is already compliant with the code as we already make payments to our supply partners within contractual terms and we pay 100% of invoices within 60 days. Our supply partners complete debt collection work across the private and public sector. In terms of the public sector we are also proud to promote the Public Procurement Review Service who provide independent support for public sector procurement including payments."

— Dave Heathcote, Supplier Management and Insolvency Director

What is the Public Procurement Review Service?

The Public Procurement Review Service allows government suppliers and potential government suppliers to raise concerns anonymously about potential poor public sector procurement practice. The Public Procurement Review Service investigates and aims 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. They also accept enquiries from organisations and trade bodies that represent suppliers. Learn more on their website.

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.

"It’s 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. 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."

— Extract from Crown Commercial Service

Use the Public Procurement Review Service: publicprocurementreview@cabinetoffice.gov.uk or 0345 010 3503