UK Construction Payment Practices League
Large UK construction businesses take 33 days on average to pay their suppliers
A sourced league table of large construction businesses' own statutory payment practice disclosures, built from the government's Payment Practices Reporting service and cross-checked against Companies House SIC codes so only genuine construction businesses are included.
Key findings
- Across 225 large UK construction businesses with a qualifying construction contract in their most recent statutory filing, the median reported average time to pay is 33 days (mean 36 days).
- The slowest-reported average in the current cohort is ALSTOM TRANSPORT UK LIMITED at 71 days; the fastest is BENNETT MANAGEMENT CONTRACTORS (GB) LIMITED at 2 days. Both figures are the companies' own statutory disclosures.
- 52 of 225 businesses in the cohort (23%) report using retention clauses in all of their construction contracts, money withheld from a subcontractor's payment until defects liability periods end.
- This is not a construction-specific days-to-pay figure: each company's reported average spans all of its supplier invoices, not construction subcontractors alone. See the methodology section for exactly how companies were selected and what the figure does and does not measure.
Source: Payment Practices Reporting service (gov.uk), a statutory disclosure every large UK business must publish twice yearly, cross-referenced against Companies House SIC codes (Open Government Licence v3.0). Figures are each company's own filing; free to cite with attribution to Trade Tax Specialists.
The 12 slowest-reported payers
Ranked by each business's own most recently filed "average time to pay" figure. The dashed line marks the 225-company cohort median of 33 days.
Full league table: top 20 slowest
Each row is the business's own most recent PPR filing. "% over 60 days" is the share of that business's invoices paid more than 60 days after receipt, in the same reporting period.
| Company | Sector | Period end | Avg days to pay | % over 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALSTOM TRANSPORT UK LIMITED | Construction of railways and underground railways | 31 Mar 2026 | 71 | 54% |
| VAN ELLE LIMITED | Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c. | 30 Apr 2026 | 65 | 42% |
| ARK MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SERVICES LIMITED | Construction of commercial buildings | 30 Apr 2026 | 65 | 81% |
| AINSCOUGH CRANE HIRE LTD | Other specialised construction activities n.e.c. | 27 Mar 2026 | 64 | 56% |
| LAST MILE D&B (MIDLANDS & SOUTH) LIMITED | Other specialised construction activities n.e.c. | 31 Mar 2026 | 62 | 52% |
| T BROWN GROUP LIMITED | Plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation | 31 Oct 2025 | 62 | 53% |
| QUARTZELEC LTD | Electrical installation | 31 Mar 2026 | 62 | 60% |
| BRIGGS & FORRESTER LIVING LIMITED | Electrical installation | 30 Apr 2026 | 62 | 63% |
| ALTRAD SERVICES LIMITED | Electrical installation | 28 Feb 2026 | 60 | 35% |
| ESSEX SERVICES GROUP LIMITED | Electrical installation | 30 Jun 2026 | 59 | 18% |
| ORONA LIMITED | Other installation activities | 30 Jun 2026 | 59 | 34% |
| M.V. KELLY LIMITED | Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c. | 31 May 2026 | 58 | 46% |
| BRIGGS & FORRESTER ENGINEERING SERVICES LIMITED | Electrical installation | 30 Apr 2026 | 58 | 57% |
| MCPHILLIPS (WELLINGTON) LIMITED | Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c. | 31 Mar 2026 | 58 | 21% |
| MIDGARD LTD | Construction of commercial buildings | 30 Apr 2026 | 57 | 50% |
| BARHALE LIMITED | Construction of water projects | 31 Dec 2025 | 55 | 33% |
| MIDGARD CITY LIMITED | Construction of commercial buildings | 30 Apr 2026 | 55 | 36% |
| GRATTE BROTHERS LIMITED | Electrical installation | 31 Mar 2026 | 54 | 39% |
| EXPLORE 2050 MANUFACTURING LIMITED | Construction of commercial buildings | 31 Mar 2026 | 54 | 15% |
| WESTON HOMES PLC | Construction of domestic buildings | 31 Jan 2026 | 54 | 34% |
The full 225-company table, including the fastest payers, is available in the CSV download.
For balance: the 10 fastest-reported payers
The same cohort, ranked the other way: specialist and main contractors, an infrastructure services group, and a couple of property-holding entities within larger retail groups, all reporting a fast average time to pay.
| Company | Sector | Avg days to pay |
|---|---|---|
| BENNETT MANAGEMENT CONTRACTORS (GB) LIMITED | Construction of commercial buildings | 2 |
| RIDDINGTONS CIS & PAYROLL SOLUTIONS UK LTD | Other specialised construction activities n.e.c. | 4 |
| BENNETT CONSTRUCTION (LONDON) LIMITED | Construction of commercial buildings | 5 |
| HERCULES PLC | Construction of roads and motorways | 6 |
| CONCRETE REPAIRS LIMITED | Other specialised construction activities n.e.c. | 7 |
| TRAVIS PERKINS (PROPERTIES) LIMITED | Development of building projects | 8 |
| STANMORE CONTRACTORS LIMITED | Other specialised construction activities n.e.c. | 10 |
| SLOUGH TRADING ESTATE LIMITED | Development of building projects | 12 |
| M GROUP TRANSPORT (RAIL & AVIATION) LIMITED | Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c. | 13 |
| M GROUP HIGHWAYS LIMITED | Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c. | 15 |
Methodology, sources and caveats
Selection. The Payment Practices Reporting (PPR) return asks every large UK business to flag whether it had "qualifying construction contracts" (works subject to the Construction Act and its retention-clause reporting requirements) in the reporting period. We took every company that ever flagged this as true across the full PPR history, then cross-referenced each company's registered SIC code at Companies House and kept only those whose SIC code falls within the 19-code construction universe used elsewhere on this site. This step matters: the QCC flag alone also catches large businesses well outside construction (a steel manufacturer, a consumer goods company, a book publisher, confirmed in our own data checks) that simply commissioned building work in the period, and including them would misrepresent the league as construction-specific when it was not.
What "average time to pay" measures. It is each company's own statutory figure, an overall average across all supplier invoices paid in the reporting period, not a figure isolated to construction subcontractors specifically. A business with a large, fast-paying supply chain and a small, slow-paying construction spend (or vice versa) would report a single blended number either way.
Current cohort. We use each company's most recent filing with a reporting period ending on or after 1 Jan 2025, so the league reflects recent practice rather than historical filings.
No allegation of wrongdoing. Every figure here is the company's own public statutory disclosure, filed by the company itself on gov.uk. A longer average time to pay may reflect standard payment terms a business is legally entitled to set, the specific mix of invoices in that reporting period, or genuine payment delay; this page draws no conclusion beyond what each company has itself reported.
- Payment Practices Reporting -- full CSV export (Department for Business and Trade)
- Companies House company profile API (SIC cross-reference) (Companies House)
Download the full league table (CSV)
Free to cite and republish with attribution to Trade Tax Specialists. This page is a data summary and does not constitute legal, tax or business advice, and does not allege wrongdoing by any named business.
Paid late by a main contractor? Don't let it distort your tax position too.
Slow payment squeezes subcontractor cash flow, but your CIS deductions and any refund you are owed are not tied to when your customer actually pays you. Our calculators help you keep your own tax position accurate regardless of how your clients pay.
Frequently asked questions
What is the UK Construction Payment Practices League?
It is a ranking of large UK construction businesses by their own reported 'average time to pay' figure, built entirely from the Payment Practices Reporting (PPR) service. Every large UK business (broadly, those meeting two of: over 250 employees, over 36 million pounds turnover, over 18 million pounds balance sheet total) must publish a report on its payment practices twice a year by law. We isolated the businesses that flagged having qualifying construction contracts in the reporting period, then cross-referenced each against its registered Companies House SIC code to keep only genuine construction-sector businesses.
Is it legal to publish this? Isn't this a reputational attack on named companies?
Every figure on this page is the company's own statutory public disclosure, published by the company itself on gov.uk under the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017, specifically so that suppliers, subcontractors and the public can see how a large business pays. Publishing an aggregated, sourced summary of public statutory data is exactly the transparency the regulations exist to create. This page does not allege wrongdoing: a longer average time to pay may reflect a business's standard payment terms (which large main contractors are entitled to set, within the law), the mix of invoice types it processes, or genuine payment delays. We link every figure back to the company's own gov.uk filing.
Does 'average time to pay' measure only construction invoices?
No. The statutory PPR return reports a single overall average across all supplier invoices the business paid in the period, not a figure isolated to construction contracts specifically. A company can have both office suppliers and construction subcontractors on its books, and only one blended average is published. We include a company here only if it separately flagged having qualifying construction contracts (works subject to the Construction Act) in that reporting period, so every company in the table does pay construction subcontractors, but the days-to-pay figure itself is company-wide, not subcontractor-specific.
How were these companies identified as construction businesses?
The PPR return only flags whether a business had 'qualifying construction contracts' in the period, true or false; it does not classify the business by sector. On its own that flag is too broad, it also catches manufacturers, retailers and other large businesses that simply commissioned building work. We cross-referenced every flagged company's registration at Companies House and kept only those whose registered SIC code falls within the same 19-code construction universe used across this site (building construction, civil engineering, and the specialised trades). That removed companies such as steel manufacturers and consumer goods businesses that had also flagged qualifying construction contracts but are not construction businesses themselves.
I'm a subcontractor and my main contractor pays slowly. What can I do?
Check your payment terms and retention clauses before you sign, and keep clear records of applications for payment and certified sums so a dispute is easier to evidence. The Construction Act gives subcontractors a statutory right to adjudication for payment disputes, which is faster than court action. On the tax side, CIS deductions and any refund you are owed do not depend on when your customer actually pays you, so a slow-paying client should not be allowed to also distort your tax position. Our team can review your CIS position and cash flow planning alongside this.