UK Government supply chain payment statement

In relation to UK Government contracts and to comply with the Fair Payment Charter we undertake regular reconciliation of our supplier statements to identify and resolve aged items in a timely manner.

In addition to this, we report our payment history bi-annually to the UK Government under the Prompt Payment Policy.

The implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system alongside new purchase order processes has resulted in some delayed payments to Turner & Townsend's suppliers.

The key driver for this is considered to be the slow adoption of new ways of working specifically when creating, approving and receipting purchase orders in advance of instructing any work. Other factors include uptake of training materials, additional time taken when processing invoices under new process and general difficulty in implementing a new ERP system and training over 3,000 individuals (Turner & Townsend colleagues and suppliers) during the global pandemic.

A number of additional measures are in place to address payment on-time performance. These include:

  • additional contractor resource to work through queries and backlog of complex payments
  • a focus on supplier statement reconciliations
  • enhanced reporting to identify issues, and
  • additional training in place for all teams.