The news comes a year after the first Kier entity, Kier Construction Ltd, returned to the PPC and since, McNicholas has made a huge improvement in its payment days. In 2019, 59% of payments were made within 60 days and this has now increased to over 90% for the last two months.

Kier said it has worked across the group to remodel finance and payment processes, including a major commitment to the quicker payment of small business debtors. Its latest Payment Practices and Reporting Regulations submission, covering the period from 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2020, showed that the aggregate payment was 38 days.

Andrew Davies, chief executive at Kier Group, said: “This achievement is testament to the hard work of teams across the Group. It shows our commitment to growing and maintaining relationships with our supply chain, many of whom are long-standing partners of Kier.

“We acknowledge, that this year it has been more important than ever to pay our suppliers in a timely manner. We will remain committed to further improvements in our payment practices, allowing us to continue working with the best supply chain partners.”

Interim small business commissioner Philip King said: “It’s extremely satisfying to see McNicholas Construction Services Ltd return as a signatory of the Prompt Payment Code. Over recent months I have worked closely with Kier to meet its ambition of overall business compliance with the Code, and it’s satisfying to see these efforts pay off on behalf of UK small businesses.

“Work that my staff and I continue to do, in order to make Code membership the default payment standard for large businesses to adhere to in the UK, is borne out by the commitment we see from Kier today. We will continue to advocate for small business owners across the UK and work to ensure that large businesses maintain a clear cashflow to their small business supply chain.”