Median UK public body pays 94.1% of invoices within 30 days, 514 payment notices show
UK public bodies' own payment notices put the median share of invoices paid within 30 days at 94.1%, a dev.to analysis found. Suppliers can now screen a buyer's record before bidding, but the figures are self-reported and unaudited.
The Engineer · Build desk
Universities and colleges had a median of 81.5% of invoices paid within 30 days, against a median of 94.1% across all 514 reports. 8 of 20 university and college reports were below 80% within 30 days.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universities and colleges, median paid within 30 days | 81.5% | 7 | |
| Median, all 514 reports | 94.1% in 30 days | 5 | |
| University and college reports below 80% | 8 of 20 reports | share paid within 30 days | 8 |
What happened
- By 14 October 2026, Find a Tender held 714 payment notices from 620 authorities; 39 were later corrected, which leaves 675 current reports.
- 85 of the 514 reports covering October 2025 to March 2026 (16.5%) showed fewer than 80% of invoices paid within 30 days, and 10 showed fewer than half.
- Universities and colleges had a median of 81.5% and housing associations 87.4%, against 96.0% for councils and 96.5% for central government and national bodies.
- Of the 41 bodies that have reported twice, 14 got worse and 9 got better.
Why it matters
- capability A supplier can now read a buyer's payment record from a public notice before deciding whether to bid, instead of asking around.
- exposure Bids to universities and housing associations carry the weakest record in the data: 8 of 20 university reports and 27 of 83 housing reports fell below 80%.
- constraint With no invoice counts or values, and no audit, the notices cannot size how much cash a late-paying buyer would hold back.
A notice is a table of percentages. Under section 69 each one gives the share of invoices paid within 30 days, within 31 to 60 days and after 60 days, plus average days to pay and how much of what fell due went unpaid [2][3]. No notice gives the number of invoices or their value, so the dev.to analysis could not weight one authority against another [11]. It averaged instead. The simple mean on-time share across the 514 reports is 89.2% [12], against the 94.1% median [5]. That is a gap of 4.9 points [19], and a mean below the median points to a tail of low reporters. Every authority counts once, so the average describes the typical public body, not the typical pound [11].
Late payment is mostly short. In the median report, invoices paid after more than 60 days made up 1.0%, and the median unpaid share of payments due was 0.8% [13].
Whether 94% transfers to a given buyer depends on scope. Of the 514 reports, 409 cover all of an authority's contracts, including those signed before the Act [14]. That leaves 105 that do not [20]. Several authorities report only on contracts let under the new Act [15], which came into force on 24 February 2025 [1]. A figure built on that slice says little about how the same buyer treats an older contract.
The sector and regional rows are the analysts' own construction. Find a Tender sorts authorities into three broad types, so the analysis grouped them by name into councils, NHS bodies, housing associations and so on [16]. On that grouping, London councils had a median of 92.8% paid within 30 days. The median for the East of England was 97.6% [9].
Corrections matter here. Newlon Housing Trust's report for October 2025 to March 2026 was corrected twice, and the first version gave 100% within 30 days. A separate report for January to March 2026 shows 35%, and one for April to September 2026 shows 20%. All three carry a publication date of 30 September 2026 [17].
In our view the notices work as a first screen. Confirm the report is the current version and covers all contracts, then weigh a figure under 80% against what a late-paying buyer costs in working capital. The analysis itself says it has not audited the numbers [18].
What to watch
- The April to September 2026 reports, due by about 30 October, will show whether the 14 bodies that got worse keep falling.
- Whether more of the second-round reports cover all contracts, after 105 of 514 in the first round did not.
- Whether the correction count rises above 39 as authorities revise figures like Newlon Housing Trust's.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap−5
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence58
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on 24 February 2025.
- [2]
Section 69 of the Act requires a contracting authority to publish a payments compliance notice for every six-month period.
- [3]
The notice states what share of invoices were paid within 30 days, within 31 to 60 days and after 60 days, the average days to pay, and how much of what fell due had not been paid.
- [4]
The first notices appeared on Find a Tender in April 2026. By 14 October 2026 there were 714 from 620 authorities; 39 were later corrected, leaving 675 current reports.
- [5]
Across the 514 reports for October 2025 to March 2026 that give the figure, the median authority paid 94.1% of invoices within 30 days and took 17 days on average.
- [6]
85 of the 514 reports (16.5%) said fewer than 80% of invoices were paid within 30 days, and 10 reported fewer than half.
- [7]
Universities and colleges had a median of 81.5% within 30 days; housing associations and council housing companies 87.4%; councils 96.0%; central government and national bodies 96.5%.
- [8]
8 of 20 reports from universities and colleges, and 27 of 83 from housing associations and council housing companies, were below 80% within 30 days.
- [9]
The median London council paid 92.8% of invoices within 30 days; in the East of England the figure was 97.6%.
- [10]
Of the 41 bodies that have reported twice, 14 got worse and 9 got better. The April to September 2026 reports are due by about 30 October.
- [11]
No notice gives the number of invoices or their value, so authorities cannot be weighted by size. The simple average treats every authority equally, so it describes the typical public body, not the typical pound.
- [12]
Across the 514 reports, an average of 10.8% of invoices were paid after 30 days; the mean on-time share is 89.2%.
- [13]
The median report put 1.0% of invoices at more than 60 days, and the median share of payments that fell due but were not made was 0.8%.
- [14]
409 of the reports for October 2025 to March 2026 cover all of an authority's contracts, including those signed before the Act.
- [15]
Several housing associations and universities report only on contracts let under the new Act.
- [16]
Find a Tender only sorts authorities into three broad types (central government, sub-central government and public undertakings), so the analysis grouped them by name: councils, NHS bodies, housing associations and so on.
- [17]
Newlon Housing Trust's report for October 2025 to March 2026 was corrected twice, and the first version gave 100% within 30 days. Its separate January to March 2026 report gives 35% and its April to September 2026 report gives 20%. All three were published on 30 September 2026.
- [18]
The figures are the authorities' own, published as official notices, and the analysis has not audited them.
- [19]
The median on-time share (94.1%) exceeds the mean (89.2%) by 4.9 percentage points.
- [20]
105 of the 514 reports do not cover all of an authority's contracts.
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Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- dev.toWhich UK public bodies pay their suppliers late? What 675 official payment reports say (2026)
1 article · October 15, 2026
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