A packaging supplier's office, a big customer's printed order on the desk.

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Can a big company make me wait 60 or 90 days to be paid?

The short answer

Up to sixty days. A business can name a payment date up to 60 days after you deliver and invoice1; a public authority, 30 days1. With a business, a longer date is not banned, but it holds only if it is not grossly unfair to you; otherwise interest starts on day 611. Large companies must also publish how fast they actually pay3, so you can look theirs up before you sign.

Mara, WolfX research desk
Written with AI, checked by a person · 8 October 2026

England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.

The numbers

The limits, and the price of paying late.

60 daysThe longest payment date a business can set without a fairness test.1

30 daysThe limit for a public authority, with no fairness test to go past it.1

11.75%Yearly interest where it starts between 1 July and 31 December 2026.9 10

What you can add

A £25,000 invoice, paid 60 days after the agreed date

Say you invoiced a large company £25,000 on 1 September 2026, with payment due 30 days later, on 1 October. They paid on 30 November 2026: 60 days after the due date. Interest started on 2 October, so the rate set by the Bank Rate on 30 June 2026 applies.

£25,000.00The invoice

£482.88Interest: £25,000 × 11.75% ÷ 365 × 60 days9

£100.00Fixed sum (debts of £10,000 or more)11

£25,582.88Owed on 30 November 2026

Had the contract said 90 days, the same payment on the same day would have been on time: no interest and no fixed sum, unless a court found the 90 days grossly unfair to you. Same invoice, same payment day. The date in the contract is worth £582.88.

The road ahead

Four before you sign, two after. All free.

Step 1: Read the payment clause
Before you tick accept on a supplier portal, find the number of days, what the count starts from (your invoice, their approval, the end of the month) and any checking period.
A checking period can push the start of the count back by no more than 30 days1, unless the contract expressly agrees longer and that is not grossly unfair to you. The same 60-day line applies to a buyer of any size1.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes
Step 2: Look up how they really pay
Search the reports3 for the exact company named in your contract; each gives its standard and longest terms, average days to pay, and share of invoices paid outside its own terms4.
From 6 April 2025, only a company or LLP over at least two of £54 million turnover, £27 million on its balance sheet and 250 employees4 has to publish. A missing report does not mean it pays fast.
Cost: FreeTime: 5 minutes
Step 3: See if they hold a Fair Payment Code award
The Small Business Commissioner publishes the list of award holders6. Gold means 95% of invoices paid within 30 days, Bronze 95% within 605. Silver is Bronze plus 95% of small-business invoices within 30. Companies prove their figures when they apply.
Cost: FreeTime: 5 minutes
Step 4: Ask for 30 or 45 days
Send the letter below before you sign. It cites section 4 of the 1998 late payment law1, proposes 30 days or 45, and asks which they can accept.
The law sets no number for grossly unfair: it looks at all the circumstances1, including whether the buyer has an objective reason for the date. They can say yes, offer a middle date, or say no.
Cost: FreeTime: Same day
Step 5: Paid after the agreed date? Add the interest
For debts that go late in 2026 the rate is 11.75% a year10, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £10011 for each invoice. How to claim it has its own page.
Portal terms cannot simply remove it: a term that bars interest is void unless the contract gives you a substantial remedy for late payment instead2.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes
Step 6: Stuck? Ask the Small Business Commissioner
For a firm with fewer than 50 employees8 and a payment dispute with a larger customer, send an enquiry within 12 months of the due date8, after trying to settle it with them. It is free and confidential7, and the Commissioner may be able to help.
Cost: FreeTime: 20 minutes

A letter you can copy

Letter proposing shorter payment terms

Send it before you sign, or when a renewal or a new order arrives with longer terms than you agreed.

New email

SubjectPayment terms in : a proposal

Dear , Thank you for sending . Before I sign, I would like to raise the payment term in clause , which is days. Under section 4 of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, a payment date more than 60 days after delivery and invoice holds only if it is not grossly unfair to the supplier. Otherwise statutory interest starts once the 60 days have passed. I pay my own suppliers and staff within days, so a term this long means I carry the cost of your order for the difference. I would like to propose 30 days from the date of each invoice. If that is not possible, could you tell me whether 45 days is? Could you confirm which of the two you can accept by ? If you believe any of this is wrong, please tell me before that date and say why. Kind regards,

Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.

Send it by email to the person named on the contract or tender, so it is dated. Keep their reply with the contract. If they agree a new term, get it into the contract before you sign, not only into an email.

When not to bother

When it isn't worth it

You agreed 60 days or fewer and they pay on the day. Nothing is late, so no interest runs. The next contract is the place to ask for less.
It is a one-off job you would rather have than argue over. Send the letter once, read their report, and take the term as it stands if the work is worth it.
You are waiting for the new law. A Bill to cap terms at 60 days12, introduced in May 2026, is not law yet, and the Government says it will not apply retrospectively. Ask now.

The Wolf's note

A payment term is a price, and the cheapest time to argue about it is before the work starts. The clause says what they promise and the report says what they do. Read both, then name your date.

Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX

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