UK Construction Payment League Table

Who really pays subcontractors on time? This Actor ranks UK main contractors, housebuilders, developers and other organisations that pay for construction work by how fast they actually pay their suppliers. The figures come from their own official GOV.UK payment practices reports.

• A full league table in one run: around 1,500 organisations with construction contracts, ranked fastest to slowest.
• The figures that matter to the supply chain: average days to pay, % paid within 30 days, % paid after 60 days, % paid outside agreed terms.
• Retention terms: whether they hold retentions, the standard rate, whether release is staged, and retentions as a % of payments.
• Trend: is each company paying faster or slower than in its previous report?
• Look up just the contractors you work with, by name or Companies House number.

Who it's for

• Subcontractors and suppliers deciding who to tender for, and on what terms
• QS and commercial teams pricing risk and cash flow into a bid
• Trade associations, journalists and researchers tracking payment performance across the industry
• Credit controllers checking a customer's payment record before offering terms

How to use it

• Full league table: just click Start. You'll get every organisation with construction contracts that has reported in the last 18 months.
• Specific contractors: add names (or part of a name) or Companies House numbers under Only these organisations.
• Narrow it down: for example Name contains = homes for housebuilders.
• Rank by average days, % paid after 60 days, % paid outside agreed terms, % paid within 30 days, or retention level.
• Turn on Include payment history to see every report the organisation has published since 2017.

Download the results as Excel, CSV or JSON, or schedule a monthly run to track changes.

What you get for each organisation

Field	What it means
rank	Position in the table for your chosen ranking
companyName, companyNumber	The reporting organisation
paymentBand	GOOD, FAIR or POOR (rules below)
averageDaysToPay	Average days from invoice to payment
percentPaidWithin30Days, percentPaid31To60Days, percentPaidLaterThan60Days	Share of invoices paid in each time band
percentNotPaidWithinAgreedTerms, percentNotPaidDueToDispute	Late against the agreed terms, and late because of disputes
shortestStandardPaymentPeriodDays, longestStandardPaymentPeriodDays, maximumContractualPaymentPeriodDays	Their stated payment terms
usesRetentions, retentionsInAllConstructionContracts, retentionStandardRatePercent	Retention policy
retentionReleaseIsStaged, retentionParityWithClient	Staged release, and whether they match their own client's retention
retentionAsPercentOfPayments, retentionVsClientRetentionsPercent	How much they hold back
participatesInPaymentCode, eInvoicingOffered, supplyChainFinanceOffered	Supplier-friendly policies
chargesSuppliersToStayOnList	Whether they've charged suppliers to stay on their supplier list
previousAverageDaysToPay, changeInAverageDaysToPay, trend	IMPROVING, WORSENING, NO CHANGE or FIRST REPORT
periodStart, periodEnd, filingDate, reportUrl	The report these figures come from, with a link to it on GOV.UK
history	Every past report (only when Include payment history is on)

Payment bands

• GOOD: average 30 days or less, and no more than 5% of invoices paid after 60 days
• POOR: average over 45 days, or more than 15% paid after 60 days, or more than 40% paid outside agreed terms
• FAIR: everything in between

The bands are a simple guide to help you scan the table. They aren't an official rating.

Pricing

You pay a small fee per organisation returned (see the Pricing tab). A lookup of a few contractors costs pennies. Use Maximum rows to cap the cost of a full table.

Data source and notes

• Data comes from the official GOV.UK "Check when large businesses pay their suppliers" service, under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This Actor isn't affiliated with the Department for Business and Trade.
• Only large companies and LLPs must report, so smaller firms won't appear.
• Organisations self-report. Obvious typos, such as reports dated in the year 3025, are skipped.
• The "construction contracts" flag is based on what the organisation reports. It includes clients, such as academy trusts and retailers, that pay for construction work, as well as contractors.
• Figures cover each organisation's latest reporting period, usually six months.

Related

Need to check whether a subcontractor or supplier is financially healthy? See UK Subcontractor Health Check by the same developer.