-
Sllooooowwww Payers
We’ve done some consultancy work for a council in the UK. How long would you say is too long to wait for an invoice before you start being more…….pressing for payment.
I never want to work for them again….
-
21 Replies
-
Not sure how it is on your “side of the pond,” but here it’s not uncommon for it to take 90+ days for the first invoice to be paid by a governmental entity. SOMETIMES subsequent invoices go through faster, as in 60 days.
That said, I’m sure that Mark Suszko’s state of Illinois pays much quicker. At least I’m sure of saying this before Mark chimes in.
-
I’ve found local authorities – councils – in the UK to be usually very reliable if not always that speedy payers. For me they have always honoured any timing-of-payments agreements.
Without a contracted payment schedule, you could look for payment at worst at 30 days from invoice date. Anything longer than 30 days and you could reasonably chase things up quite hard.
Often councils have very reasonable buyers (who you deal with) but separate financial officers, with much less interest in making payment on time. So you may need to be firm early. Which council, might I ask ..?
-
Hi Tom, I have done some work in the past for Councils in the Midlands of the UK and my invoices specified 30 days and they paid within those 30 days no problem. That was however a few years ago. With all the budget cutting and public sector job cuts happening all over the UK at the moment it could simply be that the department you sent your invoice to has changed personnel and had become lost in the system. A friendly email might just get the ball rolling again.
-
The council is a south coast one in the county of Dorset.
We completed the consultancy in July of last year, and then went through the process of filling in forms to add our company to their list of accounts, provided bank details, credit history etc..
They have now had the invoice for over 6 months, despite our payment terms being 30 days from invoice date.
-
We’ve tried the friendly thing too – requests just get buried in bureaucracy!
-
I always find it amusing that if the government owes you money, they’ll take an eternity getting it to you. But god forbid you owe them money. They’ll hold your feet to the fire for it.
Funny story. One time I did some work for the town in which I live. They were behind on their bill pay. Meanwhile, I got my annual excise tax bill for my truck. So I decided that the town wouldn’t get their excise tax money until they paid my overdue invoice (even though I know that the issues were being handled by two different offices in town hall). Eventually I got a follow-up letter hounding me for my excise tax money. I called town hall and politely told them that they’d get their excise tax money, when I got the money for the work that I did. Within two days I had a check in my mailbox. I was so happy that I personally dropped of my excise tax check that same day.
-Aaron
-
Hi Tom,
here are some tips for now and the future.- ensure that they have a ‘purchase order’ on you. Don’t do anything without it.
- the PO normally states the payment terms. If not, then indicate the payment terms on your invoice.
- Add in the terms a penalty for ‘unreasonable’ late payment. No small print!
- Ensure your bank details and payment options are clearly stated on your invoice.
- Send reminders – don’t call – written reminders and keep copies.
- Indicate a last reminder before ‘the penalty for late payment’ applies
- Seek legal advice what to do in just cases, as the law in different states and territories differ.
- Be prepared to request compensation for losses occur for late payments in a court of law. Ask a legal counsel!
- Don’t be afraid, if it is a council, a government or a lawyer’s office. If you have done work and you can prove all the terms & conditions everyone agreed to, then no one should be above the law. But do check the T&C, as sometimes clients, incl. government agencies, hide them to have services offered and provided
Good luck and keep us posted.
Cheers
Hisham -
Hey Tom,
A few years back, under Gordon Brown, the government put a rule into place for securing payment for small suppliers within 10 days. You also have the government 30 day rule, after which you can automatically apply interest to your invoices.
https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery/when-payment-becomes-lateIf you don’t intend to work for them again, my suggestion would be to email a copy of invoice and communications to the head of the council, copying in the mayor and the largest opposition leader, and the person not getting you paid – that normally kick people into touch…
All the Best
Mads@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk -
Mads-fantastic! We did get a purchase order but things were pretty informal and friendly at the start-didn’t think to add late payment terms to it!
Just to add to the stories here-my dad opened our studio as a sound recording facility in the 70’s. In the mid 80’s he had it booked out by the Tory party to record some local radio spots for the elections. Was a quick job, easy to complete. He sent off the invoice (not a huge amount) and received a letter back from the local Tory mp thanking him for his donation! That letter is being kept until the mp in question ever gets a high position in the Tories!
-
No problem, happy to help 🙂
Remember that you no longer need to state interest charges on your original invoice/T&C as these are effective by law.
When you send the council the invoice with the interest on, another good encouragement is to complete a copy of a court form https://hmctscourtfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n001-eng.pdf
Add to your cover letter that it will be filed within 72 hours unless payment has been received. “At which point the council will go to court, and will loose, and will have to pay the case cost, your solicitor and credit collector”I too have done (paid) work for several of the political parties and government. My suggestion would be to put your invoice and thank you letter up on a word-press blog, tag (#) the tory main twitter account and Tweet it out – I’m sure that you’ll soon get paid or awarded another paid job…
All the Best
Mads@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up