Prompt Payment Code boosted to help SMEs

The Prompt Payment Code has confirmed that compliance with the new requirement to pay 95% of invoices from businesses with fewer than 50 employees within 30 days is being enforced from a signatory’s next full reporting period.

“It’s hoped the changes will help the Code to grow further, attract new and significant signatories, and give small businesses real confidence to expect prompt payment from their customers,” said Rob Driscoll, ECA’s Director of Legal and business.

For companies with a financial year ending 31 December 2021, this will be January 2022. The Code is encouraging signatories that are required to report under the Duty to Report regulations to include the information as part of their biannual report using the narrative box within the Payment Terms section.

In July 2021, the Code was strengthened to include a requirement to pay 95% of invoices within 60 days, report annually on payment performance, promote the Code website and more.

This article originally appeared on the ECA website. It was published on 8 December 2021.

--ECA

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[edit] External resources

• ECA Today, The story behind the headlines: the Prompt Payment Code by Rob Driscoll.
• Small Business Commissioner, Code Reforms.