The Home Office implemented the Prime Minister's commitment to pay all small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within 10 days in October 2008.
The Home Office has invested significantly in its people with the creation of a professional Shared Service Centre and Procurement Centre of Excellence complemented by the creation of new processes and upgraded Procure to Pay systems. The Department has put a firm focus on paying its suppliers on time on receipt of a compliant invoice. It has worked closely with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills reporting on both its legislative obligations of 30 days as well as the 10 day PM's commitment for SMEs.
The Home Office has recently converted all of its suppliers to 10-day payment terms and will be reporting on this from 1 February 2010.
The latest Home Office performance information for paying the invoices of all creditors within 30 days and paying SME compliant invoices within 10 days in January 2010 is shown in the following table:
Home Office and UKBA Total number of all invoices paid 4,512 Percentage of total number of all invoices paid within 30 days 90 Number of SMEs' compliant invoices paid within 10 days 1,080 Percentage of SMEs’ compliant invoices paid with 10 days 99
The latest available performance information from the Criminal Records Bureau for paying the invoices of all creditors and SME compliant invoices within 10 days in December 2009 is shown in the following table:
Month Total number of all invoices paid Percentage of total number of all invoices paid within 10 days Number of SMEs’ compliant invoices paid within 10 days Percentage of SMEs’ compliant invoices paid within 10 days January 2010 284 39 109 89
Performance information from the Identity and Passport Service is that between April 2009 and January 2010 SME compliant invoices were on average paid within 12 days and the invoices of all remaining creditors were on average paid within 19 days.