Our latest payment practices data is available on the government website at https://check-payment-practices.service.gov.uk/report/70813.

At SCC we always aim to settle our liabilities promptly and in accordance with terms. There are some scenarios in which invoices may be paid after more than 60 days. The primary causes for this are:

• Where we have terms with our suppliers that exceed 60 days we may make payments in accordance with our terms but outside of the 60 day threshold
• Where valid queries exist with our suppliers around delivery, volume or pricing of acquired goods and services and we are working these queries through with our suppliers
• Where there has been a delay in our internal processes for approving an invoice for payment

A payment improvement plan has been put in place to deal with each of these scenarios which is well advanced and has already resulted in a significant reduction in the volume of invoices paid outside of terms or over 60 days. The primary initiatives are:

• Ensuring that we have appropriate terms in place with our suppliers
• Implementing an automated invoice receipting tool that suppliers can access directly to ensure invoices are received and processed quickly
• Improving our internal query resolution processes
• Implementing a new ERP platform

It is expected that within the next payment practices reporting period we will consistently exceed a threshold of paying over 95% of invoices in less than 60 days.