Five Kier companies were removed from the Code for failing to uphold to its best practice for payment standards to end the culture of late payment and to pay 95% of all supplier invoices within 60 days

The Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM), which administers the Code on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), approved an action plan by the contractor which focuses on supplier engagement & compliance, process simplification, guidance & training, e-invoicing and payment scheduling.

Andrew Davies, chief executive at Kier, said: “Kier has been working with the CICM to address this important issue and we have been implementing approved action plans across the business.

“We remain committed to paying all our suppliers to agreed terms and have made significant improvements in our payment processes whilst continuing to offer our subcontractors, particularly SMEs, a range of accessible payment plans.”

CICM chief executive, Philip King, added: “As part of our work driving culture change to end late payments, we are working closely with Kier and are impressed with its level of engagement leading to a significant trajectory of improvements in payment days. This demonstrates the effectiveness of its action plan and we are delighted to reinstate Kier Construction Limited to the Prompt Payment Code.”

All payment transactions across the business are now processed from the Kier financial shared service centre, providing a more consistent approach to payment.