Fair Payment Check a company
  1. Home
  2. Councils
  3. Southwark

London borough · London

How fast Southwark Council pays its suppliers

Southwark Council took an average of 50.5 days to pay suppliers in April to September 2026, 3.6 times as long as the typical council (14 days), and paid 77.5% of invoices within 30 days. It is the 2nd slowest of 137 councils.

April to September 2026

50.5 days

average time to pay an invoice

  • Within 30 days
  • 31 to 60 days
  • Over 60 days
Paid within 30 days
77.5%
Paid in 31 to 60 days
15.7%
Paid after 60 days
6.8%
Paid within agreed terms
77.5%
Rank
2nd slowest of 137

Source: payments compliance notice 100175-2026, published 22 October 2026, Find a Tender, Cabinet Office.

Previous notice

61.2 days average, 71.5% within 30 days

Oct 2025 to Mar 2026. Notice 046813-2026.

10.7 days faster in the latest period

Companies in Southwark

How fast the large companies registered in Southwark pay their suppliers.

See the Southwark companies

Southwark against every other council

Average days to pay suppliers, April to September 2026: 137 councils, one dot each. Dots past 30 days are councils whose average was longer than the 30 days the law allows for each invoice. 01020304050 30 days: the legal limit for each invoice Average days to pay Vale of Glamorgan: 1 days Hackney: 1.6 days Oxfordshire: 2.1 days Westminster: 2.7 days Salford: 3.4 days Fylde: 4.1 days Bromley: 5 days Stroud: 6.1 days Dartford: 6.1 days Mid Sussex: 6.4 days East Cambridgeshire: 6.8 days Bradford: 7.1 days Breckland: 7.2 days Wolverhampton: 7.4 days Telford and Wrekin: 7.7 days East Devon: 7.8 days Kensington and Chelsea: 7.8 days Hertsmere: 7.9 days Worcestershire: 8 days Harrow: 8 days South Cambridgeshire: 8 days East Sussex: 8 days Folkestone and Hythe: 8.2 days Gateshead: 8.2 days Staffordshire: 8.3 days Havering: 8.4 days West Lancashire: 8.8 days North Yorkshire: 8.8 days Cumberland: 9 days Ceredigion: 9 days Torridge: 9 days Wrexham: 9 days Newcastle upon Tyne: 9.4 days Wokingham: 9.6 days Caerphilly: 9.6 days East Suffolk: 10 days Huntingdonshire: 10 days Sunderland: 10.5 days North Kesteven: 10.8 days Chorley: 11 days Solihull: 11 days Bath and North East Somerset: 11 days Coventry: 11 days Wychavon: 11 days Braintree: 11.4 days Barnsley: 11.5 days Bolton: 11.5 days Torbay: 11.7 days Blackpool: 12 days Hartlepool: 12 days Newport: 12 days Norfolk: 12.2 days Isle of Anglesey: 12.3 days Cambridgeshire: 12.3 days Walsall: 13 days Surrey: 13 days Great Yarmouth: 13 days West Northamptonshire: 13 days Rotherham: 13.1 days Gravesham: 13.2 days Castle Point: 13.4 days Stevenage: 13.4 days County Durham: 13.6 days Rother: 13.8 days North Northamptonshire: 13.9 days Richmond upon Thames: 14 days Hart: 14 days New Forest: 14 days South Norfolk: 14 days Milton Keynes: 14 days Herefordshire: 14.2 days Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole: 14.3 days Hyndburn: 14.3 days Haringey: 14.4 days Warwickshire: 14.4 days Hastings: 14.7 days Worcester: 14.8 days Burnley: 15 days South Oxfordshire: 15 days Peterborough: 15 days City of London: 15 days East Riding of Yorkshire: 15 days Tendring: 15 days Newham: 15 days East Lindsey: 15 days South Holland: 15 days Broadland: 15.1 days Suffolk: 15.2 days Blaenau Gwent: 15.4 days Welwyn Hatfield: 15.4 days South Kesteven: 15.9 days Oxford: 16 days Essex: 16 days Malvern Hills: 16 days Monmouthshire: 16.1 days East Hertfordshire: 16.1 days Redcar and Cleveland: 16.2 days Cambridge: 16.4 days Bedford: 16.4 days Brighton and Hove: 17.1 days Lincolnshire: 17.1 days Cheshire East: 17.7 days East Hampshire: 17.9 days Kirklees: 18 days Cheshire West and Chester: 18 days Westmorland and Furness: 18.3 days Wyre: 18.4 days Hertfordshire: 18.5 days Dacorum: 18.8 days Cornwall: 19 days Tower Hamlets: 19 days Boston: 19 days Liverpool: 19 days Nuneaton and Bedworth: 20 days Nottinghamshire: 20 days Basingstoke and Deane: 20.4 days Pembrokeshire: 21 days Chesterfield: 21.1 days Wigan: 22 days Bristol: 22 days Sefton: 22 days Gwynedd: 22.2 days Halton: 22.3 days Southampton: 24 days Leicestershire: 24.6 days Leicester: 25 days Nottingham: 26 days Sandwell: 29.6 days Enfield: 29.6 days North East Lincolnshire: 30.8 days Bromsgrove: 32 days Warwick: 32 days Redditch: 33 days Vale of White Horse: 33 days Windsor and Maidenhead: 35 days Southwark: 50.5 days West Berkshire: 52 days Southwark: 50.5 days
One dot per council that reported all its payments, April to September 2026. Hover or tap a dot for the council; on a phone, swipe the chart sideways.

Councils in London

#CouncilAverage daysWithin 30 daysPayment bands
2Southwark Council 50.577.5%
10London Borough of Enfield 29.698.4%
26London Borough of Tower Hamlets 1991.6%
55London Borough 1592.5%
58London Borough of Newham 1596.3%
63London Borough of Haringey 14.491%
68London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames 1489.2%
112London Borough of Havering 8.496.7%
117London Borough of Harrow 895.5%
122Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 7.896%
131London Borough of Bromley 599%
134Westminster City Council 2.798.5%
136London Borough of Hackney 1.699.4%

# is the rank among all 137 councils, where 1 is the slowest. The full league table.

Southwark's finances

For context. How fast a council pays is a matter of its own processes as well as its money: across England, councils with more to spend per resident do not pay faster.

Spending power, 2026-27
£490.5 million
£1,475 a resident; typical London borough: £1,262
Net budget, 2026-27
£810.1 million
Net current expenditure, as budgeted
Reserves forecast, 1 April 2026
£268.8 million
55% of a year's spending power; typical London borough: 28%
Emergency government support
None
No Exceptional Financial Support since 2024-25

Sources: Core spending power 2026-27 and local authority revenue expenditure and financing 2026-27 budget, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; Exceptional Financial Support lists on GOV.UK. Open Government Licence v3. Reserves are unallocated plus earmarked reserves the council forecast for 1 April 2026.

What the law asks of Southwark

Pay within 30 days. Under section 68 of the Procurement Act 2023, a council must pay an undisputed invoice within 30 days of receiving it.

Publish every six months. Section 69 requires a payments compliance notice on Find a Tender within 30 days of 31 March and 30 September.

Owed money by a council? Suppliers can claim statutory interest on a late commercial invoice. Work it out with our late payment interest calculator.

Figures are as the council published them and are not audited. Source: payments compliance notices, Find a Tender, Cabinet Office, Open Government Licence v3.

Put Southwark's figures on your website

Free for councils, local news sites, business groups and residents. The card updates itself when a new notice is published.