Payment practices reporting – call for evidence

BEIS has published a call for evidence on the payment practices reporting regulations.

Large UK companies and LLPs are required to report on their payment practices, policies and performance every six months and submit that report to a government-hosted website for publication. The aim is to increase transparency and public scrutiny of large businesses’ payment practices and performance, and to give small business suppliers better information so that they can make informed decisions about who to trade with, negotiate fairer terms and challenge late payments. See our briefing on the regime for further detail.

The Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017, which introduced the regime, require the Secretary of State to review the Regulations. The call for evidence stresses that it is not a public consultation on how the Regulations might be amended or changed, and notes the recent Government proposal in the “Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance” White Paper to require companies to include a summary of their payment practices in their annual reports (see our briefing on the consultation here).

The call for evidence closes on 4 February 2022 and the Secretary of State must publish a report on the outcome before 6 April 2022.