UK Procurement Act: payment rules start Jan/Apr 2026
Two dates to circle: 1 January 2026 and 1 April 2026. On 9 December 2025, the Cabinet Office signed the Procurement Act 2023 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2025. We’ll walk you through what switches on, who is covered, and how you can get ready. These are the fourth commencement regulations under the Act.
From 1 January 2026, most contracting authorities in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland must start publishing payments compliance notices under section 69, except where a procurement is regulated by the Welsh Ministers. In plain terms, if an authority made a payment or a sum became payable in a six‑month “reporting period”, it must publish a notice within 30 days of that period, showing how quickly it paid against the 30‑day term.
Wales has a different timetable for section 69. For procurements regulated by the Welsh Ministers, the duty to publish payments compliance notices starts on 1 April 2026. A procurement is treated as regulated by the Welsh Ministers when it involves a devolved Welsh authority or a devolved Welsh procurement arrangement, unless it is carried out under a reserved or transferred Northern Ireland arrangement. The Act’s definitions set this out.
Also from 1 January 2026, section 71 on assessing contract performance takes effect. Where a contract has key performance indicators, the authority must assess performance at least once every 12 months and on termination, and publish specified information about those assessments. The section also covers how serious breach and sustained poor performance are recorded.
From 1 April 2026, section 70 begins for most authorities outside Wales. This requires publication of information about any payment over £30,000 made under a public contract, within 30 days of the end of the quarter when the payment was made. There are exclusions, including schools, private utilities and certain Northern Ireland authorities.
Who is affected? If you work in a council, an NHS body, a central government department or an arm’s‑length public organisation, you’ll be expected to publish more about how promptly you pay and how your suppliers are performing. If you supply the public sector, you’ll start to see a clearer picture of buyer payment times and performance assessments linked to KPIs.
What this means for suppliers is practical. Keep invoices accurate and submitted on time, note when the 30‑day clock starts, and check published payment notices to spot patterns that may affect cashflow. If a contract has KPIs, keep your evidence tidy and ready for each review point; the resulting assessments will be published and may be read by future evaluators.
For contracting authorities, this is a data job as much as a policy job. Build a reliable record of invoice and payment dates, agree who signs off the six‑monthly notice, and timetable KPI reviews so section 71 assessments are regular and fair. Put in place a simple way to correct any mistakes quickly so the public record stays trustworthy.
Why the two dates? Ministers are phasing the transparency measures so regular performance assessments arrive first, quarterly publication of payments over £30,000 follows, and Wales has a tailored timetable reflecting devolution. The overall aim is straightforward: faster payment to suppliers and better accountability for delivery, without confusion about which rules apply in each nation.
Quick recap for your diary: from 1 January 2026, section 69 applies across the UK except for Welsh‑regulated procurements, and section 71 takes effect wherever the Act applies. From 1 April 2026, section 69 takes effect for Welsh‑regulated procurements and section 70 starts outside Wales; Wales will set its own start for section 70 in due course.