Kier Construction Limited (KCL) has been reinstated to the Prompt Payment Code following a sustained period of improvement in its payment practices governed by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM).

The reinstatement follows the implementation of its action plan, which was approved by the CICM and 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, said: “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. It has been working on a plan to address prompt payment across its supply chain and has been praised by the CICM for its level of detail.

In 2017, the Government launched new regulations called Duty to Report on Payment Practices and Reporting (PPR). This requires all UK companies of a certain size to post their payment data on a Government portal. As a result, 14 Kier trading entities are required to provide this data every six months.