Payment records and invoice deadlines

Public bodies must settle invoices within 30 days under the procurement arrangements described by Roofing Today. In guidance published on 29 September 2026, Michael Hicks, commercial director of Onetrace, sets out payment and reporting requirements affecting specialist firms working directly for public clients or through main contractors.

The Procurement Act 2023 took effect in February 2025. According to the report, some of its payment reporting and contract performance provisions have become operational more recently, bringing additional information about public contracts into the public domain.

Hicks identifies the UK17 Payments Compliance Notice as the mechanism requiring public bodies to disclose their average invoice payment time. This gives subcontractors a published measure of a public buyer’s payment record, rather than relying solely on its stated terms.

A separate disclosure, the UK8 contract payment notice, concerns payment data for contracts above £30,000, according to the guidance. Hicks says the reporting covers payments to subcontractors as well as main contractors, allowing supply-chain firms to examine whether payment arrangements higher up the chain are being followed.

How bids are assessed

The legislation also seeks to improve smaller specialists’ access to public procurement, Hicks writes. His account says buyers must consider quality, social value, environmental impact, innovation and long-term public benefit when evaluating tenders, rather than selecting on the lowest price alone.

For bidders, Hicks identifies evidence of delivery quality and wider project benefits as relevant parts of a submission. His advice is that subcontractors should be able to explain those contributions alongside their price, giving buyers material against which to assess the non-price elements of a tender.

He also recommends attention to governance and quality credentials, naming the Common Assessment Standard. Hicks presents this as preparation for public-sector opportunities, alongside a clear account of the social value a subcontractor can provide.

Performance becomes a public record

For public contracts worth more than £5 million, Hicks says buyers must publish contract performance notices. These include specified key performance indicators and make information about delivery available to other buyers and competing suppliers.

The guidance also describes a debarment list for suppliers whose previous public-sector performance has fallen significantly short. According to Hicks, subcontractors placed on that list will be excluded from bidding for future public contracts. He warns that the commercial effects of a poor delivery record can therefore extend beyond the job concerned.

Hicks distinguishes between having performance evidence available throughout a contract and trying to assemble it afterwards. He argues that consistent compliance, quality and delivery records are important when a firm’s work can be assessed through published information.

Main contractors’ checks

Main contractors have responsibility for checking whether their subcontractors are on the debarment list, according to Hicks. This places scrutiny of a specialist firm’s status within the main contractor’s supply-chain selection process, not only with the public buyer.

Hicks also says main contractors must ensure that compliance obligations in the head contract are reflected in the subcontracts below it. His expectation is that selection will become more cautious, with subcontractors asked to demonstrate their governance and compliance record before being taken on.