Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015

3 Companies: duty to publish report on payment practices and performance U.K.

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations impose a requirement, on such descriptions of companies as may be prescribed, to publish, at such intervals and in such manner as may be prescribed, prescribed information about—

(a) the company's payment practices and policies relating to relevant contracts of a prescribed description, and

(b) the company's performance by reference to those practices and policies.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

• “company” has the meaning given by section 1(1) of the Companies Act 2006 (but see subsection (3));

• a contract is a “relevant contract” if—

  (a)

  it is a contract for goods, services or intangible assets (including intellectual property), and

  (b)

  the parties to the contract have entered into it in connection with the carrying on of a business;

• “prescribed” means prescribed by the regulations.

(3) The regulations may not impose a requirement on a company in relation to any time during which—

(a) it qualifies as a micro-entity for the purposes of section 384A of the Companies Act 2006,

(b) the small companies regime under that Act applies to it (see section 381 of that Act), or

(c) it qualifies as medium-sized for the purposes of section 465 or 466 of that Act.

(4) “The company's payment practices and policies” has such meaning as may be prescribed and the information which may be prescribed may, in particular, include information—

(a) about the standard payment terms of the company and whether these are part of any code of conduct or code of ethics of the company,

(b) about payment terms of the company which are not standard,

(c) about the processing and payment of invoices,

(d) by reference to such codes of conduct or standards as may be prescribed and as are applicable to companies generally or to companies of a prescribed description,

(e) about disputes relating to the payment of invoices, including any dispute resolution mechanism that the company uses,

(f) about payments owed or paid by the company due to late payment of invoices, whether in respect of interest or otherwise.

(5) The regulations may require that information published in accordance with the regulations must be approved or signed by such description of person as may be prescribed.

(6) The regulations may require such of the information required to be published as may be prescribed to be given, in such form as may be prescribed, to prescribed persons.

(7) The regulations may make provision for a prescribed breach by a prescribed description of person of a requirement imposed by the regulations to be an offence punishable on summary conviction—

(a) in England and Wales, by a fine;

(b) in Scotland or Northern Ireland, by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(8) Before making regulations under this section the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(9) Regulations under this section are subject to affirmative resolution procedure.