NSCC, the National Specialist Contractors Council, and the Federation of Master Builders have joined forces to carry out a major industry survey about payments and provide an industry benmark for payment issues.
The aim of the survey is to benchmark the current state of payment practices in the specialist sector and will provide valuable evidence to help make a case to Government, clients and other key stakeholders for further improvements in payment practices.
Specialist subcontractors have regularly raised concerns about payment practices. The Construction Act and advent of Project Bank Accounts have gone some way to breaking the stranglehold of main contractors over payment. The publication of the Supply Chain Payment Charter during the summer was a further commitment to improve payment practices.
The absence of legislation around 30-day payment in the proposed Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill also caused some surprise among specialist contractors. It is now believed that 30-day payment periods on public sector contracts could be introduced as part of a revision to the EU Public Procurement Directives before the end of this year.
To share your experience of the current state of payment in the industry, the complete the online NSCC Payment Survey 2014 by Friday 17 October.
