Kier suspended from Prompt Payment Code

20 firms – including AstraZeneca, IBM and Unilever – have been suspended from the Prompt Payment Code for failing to pay suppliers on time, the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) announced recently.

Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline and Kier businesses are also among those that have failed to honour their Code commitment to pay 95% of all supplier invoices within 60 days. The Code is administered by the CICM, who are independent from government, on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Signatories pledge to uphold best practice to end the culture of late payment.

All of the suspended businesses are engaging with the CICM and have already submitted action plans towards achieving compliance, proving the effectiveness of the PPC in positively changing payment behaviours.

A further nine businesses – including Interserve Construction, have been reinstated to the Code having demonstrated compliance for at least the last two consecutive months.

Business owners depressed and suicidal due to late payment

An industry-wide survey has shown the impact of late and unfair payment on mental health in construction. Nine out of ten business owners across construction suffer a range of mental health issues due to payment and business pressures, according to a survey run by leading engineering services trade bodies BESA and ECA.

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The new survey, conducted in association with 25 construction trade bodies, including the Scaffolding Association, found that business owners have an array of significant mental health problems due to the pressures of late or unfair payment, including:

• Stress (80%) • Depression (36%) • Extreme anger (38%)

• Anxiety and/or panic attacks (40%) • Insomnia (36%) • Suicidal feelings (10%)

Of all the respondents, four said they had attempted suicide as a result, while 80% reported a mental health issue. 41% of all respondents said that payment issues had strained their relationship with their partner, with 5% reporting it had caused it to breakdown entirely. The survey supporters are all part of an industry coalition pressing Government to reform the practice of cash retentions in construction. Cash retentions are widely considered to be the most unfair and abused payment practice in the industry.