Dorset Council has made sure it’s paid it’s suppliers immediately during the coronavirus pandemic – paying over £71m to businesses in the last month to help maintain cash flow.
On 26 March, the council wrote to more than 13,000 suppliers, including some local businesses, to assure them that the council was maintaining business as usual for payment of invoices.
Working remotely, between 18 March and 16 April the council’s accounts payable team has:
- immediately paid 22,473 invoices
- paid a total of £71,410,426 to suppliers
- carried out a total of 13 payment runs.
They’ve introduced immediate payment terms (instead of the usual 30 days), daily payment runs (Mon – Fri) to help maintain cash flows and put appropriate contingencies in place to authorise payments promptly. These apply to all suppliers, regardless of whether they hold a formal contract with the council or not.
Dorset Council started making immediate payments on 18 March – before the government asked contracting bodies to consider immediate payment terms.
The council hopes its suppliers have similar considerations to their associates too, so they can endeavour to cope with the current crisis. Working together collectively, to flow cash through the supply chain, will help us all to resume normal service when the outbreak is over.
