Proposals for large and listed companies to publish payment practices now under consultations

The government has responded to the ‘Building a Responsible Payment Culture’ discussion paper with new proposals which will require large and quoted companies to publish detailed information about their payment practices and performance.

The proposals show how government intend to make use of the prompt payment power in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, currently before Parliament. The consultation seeks views on the proposals that will see companies:

– reporting on a quarterly basis;
– reporting on standardised metrics on payment performance;
– disclosing additional narrative information on payment practices;
– publishing the information on their website; and
– facing fines for breach of the requirement.

The consultation document is available for download.  BWF members can either feed their views back to BWF and we will send in a response, or can respond directly to latepayment@bis.gsi.gov.uk, clearly marked the e-mail as a response to the ‘Duty to Report consultation’ by 2 February 2015.