Interest
18.—(1) The paying authority shall pay interest to the payee authority in respect of any sum which has become payable by virtue of this Part and has not been paid by the due date.
(2) Interest payable under paragraph (1) above—
(a)shall be calculated in accordance with such method as may be agreed between the paying authority and the payee authority or, failing such agreement, shall be simple interest calculated on the unpaid amount in respect of the period beginning with the due date and ending with the day before the day on which the sum is paid at a rate equivalent to two per cent. above the highest base rate quoted by any of the reference banks at any time during that period; and
(b)shall be paid at the same time as the sum is paid.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2) above, the reference banks are the seven largest institutions—
(a)authorised by the Bank of England under the Banking Act 1987(1); and
(b)incorporated in and carrying on a deposit-taking business within the United Kingdom,
which quote a base rate in sterling.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3) above, the size of an institution is to be determined by reference to its consolidated gross assets denominated in sterling, as shown in its audited end-year accounts last published before the period for which interest is payable begins.
(5) In this regulation—
“consolidated gross assets” of an institution is a reference to the gross assets of that institution together with any subsidiary (within the meaning of section 736 of the Companies Act 1985);
“a deposit-taking business” has the meaning given in section 6 of the Banking Act 1987 but subject to any order under section 7 of that Act;
“the due date” for payment of a sum is a reference to the date on or before which the sum is required to be paid; and
“sum” includes a reference to a part of a sum.