For journalists

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Source: Fair Payment (fairpaymentcampaign.co.uk), from payment practices reports filed with the Department for Business and Trade.

The headline figures

The typical large UK company takes 31 days to pay an invoice (median of each company's latest average).
It pays a typical 64% of invoices within 30 days.
481 companies average more than 60 days, and 745 pay half or more of their invoices outside the terms they agreed.
Of 5,715 companies with a report a year earlier to compare, 2,377 now take longer to pay and 2,582 pay faster.
1,453 reported construction contracts; 815 said they hold back retention money, most often at 5%.
By region, companies registered in West Midlands take the longest (typical 38 days) and London the shortest (27 days).

Covers the 6,220 companies whose latest report is for a period ending between 31 May 2025 and 31 October 2026. Reports filed to 3 November 2026.

Story angles

Your area. The slowest payers registered in your council area or region, against the UK figure. Find your area.
Named companies. Every company has a page with its full reporting history. Search by name or company number.
Getting slower. The companies whose payment times rose most on the same period a year earlier.
Construction cash held back. Which firms hold retentions and at what rate.
Late against their own terms. Companies paying the most invoices late, by their own reckoning.

Downloads

all-current-filers.csv: Every current filer (6,132 companies placed by registered office), slowest first
areas-summary.csv: Every region and council area: companies, typical days to pay, share paid within 30 days, share paid late
slowest-payers.csv: The 100 slowest payers
fastest-payers.csv: The 100 fastest payers
paid-late.csv: The 100 companies paying the most invoices outside agreed terms
getting-slower.csv: The 100 companies slowing down most on a year earlier
improvers.csv: The 100 companies speeding up most on a year earlier
retention-clauses.csv: All 815 construction reporters with retention clauses

Every region and council area page also has its own CSV. Regions: East Midlands, East of England, London, North East, North West, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber.

What the figures are, and are not

Only large companies and LLPs have to report: those above the Companies Act thresholds for a medium-sized business on their last two balance sheet dates. Small and medium-sized firms do not report, so these figures describe how big businesses pay, including how they pay smaller suppliers.
Figures are as filed by each company and are not audited. Reports with impossible figures, such as an average of more than a year, are shown on the company's page as filed but left out of every table and average (3 at present).
Reporting periods differ from company to company. Every table gives each company's own period.
Area pages place a company by its registered office on the Companies House register, which is not always where it trades or employs people.
Retention details only appear in reports made under the newest version of the rules, first filed in July 2025, so the retention count will grow.

How we use the data has the rest.

Contact

For figures for a particular area, company or sector, email editor@fairpaymentcampaign.co.uk. We can usually turn a request round the same day.

Source data: Check payment practices, Department for Business and Trade, Open Government Licence v3.0. Fair Payment is independent and not affiliated with any government body, Build UK or the former NSCC Fair Payment Campaign.