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What is the Fair Payment Code, and does a signature mean anything?

The short answer

Partly. The Fair Payment Code is a free, voluntary government scheme, and a level records how a business has paid in the past: Gold is 95% of invoices within 30 days, Silver and Bronze 95% within 601. Even Gold lets 5 invoices in 100 run late, and every award lasts two years2. To win Gold, a business must show a contract promising interest at 8% above Bank Rate2, which is what the law already gives you7.

Mara, WolfX research desk
Written with AI, checked by a person · 9 October 2026

The numbers

What a level tells you.

30 daysGold: at least 95% of invoices paid within 30 days.1

60 daysSilver and Bronze: 95% in 60 days. Silver adds 95% in 30 days to firms under 50 staff.1

5%The share of invoices even a Gold business may pay late.1

2 yearsHow long an award runs before the business must reapply.2

What you can add

A £6,200 invoice, paid on day 60 by a Bronze customer

Say you invoiced another business £6,200 on 3 August 2026, on 30-day terms, so due on 2 September 2026. Their Bronze award allows payment within 60 days, and they pay on 2 October 2026. That is inside their level and 30 days late in law. Invoices that go late in the second half of 2026 carry 11.75% a year8.

£59.88Interest: £6,200 × 11.75% ÷ 365 × 30 days7

£70.00Fixed sum (invoices from £1,000 to £9,999.99)6

£129.88Owed on top of the invoice on 2 October 2026

The badge changed none of it. Interest runs at about £2.00 a day from the day after the due date.

The road ahead

Five steps. All free.

Step 1: Look them up in the directory
Open the Awardees directory3 and find the company by name. Each entry shows the level, the year it runs until and the Companies House number; check the number. A badge in a footer is not proof; the entry is. The Code replaced the Prompt Payment Code2, so old lists use that name.
Cost: FreeTime: 5 minutes
Step 2: Read the level, then the year
'Gold Until 2027' means Gold to the end of 20273; if the year has passed, the award has run out. Silver means they showed at least 95% of invoices to suppliers under 50 staff paid within 30 days1: a share of past invoices, not a term on yours. Bronze sets no 30-day mark at all.
Cost: FreeTime: 2 minutes
Step 3: If they are big, check how they pay
Large businesses report how fast they pay, and GOV.UK lets you search the reports4 for the average time and the share paid late. That duty is separate from the Code2, so it covers firms whether or not they have signed.
Cost: FreeTime: 5 minutes
Step 4: Ask for the term in writing
Send the email below. A level says how they pay in general; you need the term for your order. Every signatory has agreed to put payment terms in writing before work begins1, and to accept late payment interest and compensation where a late payment damages your business.
Cost: FreeTime: Same day
Step 5: Put the term in the order
Write the payment date into the order and say interest applies after it. A date you agree must usually be within 60 days between businesses5, or 30 for public authorities. With none agreed, it is late 30 days after they get your invoice or your work, whichever is later.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes

A letter you can copy

Email asking a customer to confirm their Fair Payment Code level

Send it when a customer says they are signed up to the Code, before you accept the order.

New email

SubjectOrder : your Fair Payment Code award and payment term

Dear , Thank you for order . You mentioned that is signed up to the Fair Payment Code. Before I accept the order, could you confirm in writing: 1. The award level you hold (Gold, Silver or Bronze). 2. The year it runs until. 3. That my payment term of from receipt of my invoice will apply to this order. Once it is agreed, I will put the term in the order confirmation, so the date is clear on both sides. Could you reply 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 so the reply is dated, and keep both with the order. Look them up in the directory first. If the reply does not match the entry, ask which is right.

When not to bother

When it isn't worth it

The customer is small. A small firm may not be in the directory at all; how it has paid you matters more than a missing badge.
You are paid in advance. A payment term does nothing for an invoice that is already settled.
The customer is a public body. Councils, NHS trusts and government departments cannot join2; an agreed date must usually be within 30 days5.
Your contract already says 30 days and interest. Then you hold the term in writing, and a badge adds nothing to it.

The Wolf's note

A level is a record of how they paid others, not a promise about you. Get the term in writing and put it in the order. Then you have a date to hold them to.

Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX

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