So, it is time to name and shame construction’s poor payers. This week the deadline elapsed for many of the country’s biggest companies to reveal just how quickly, or slowly, they pay their supply chains as part of a government drive to make payment practices more transparent and fair. Balfour Beatty and Kier topped the list, recording an average of 54 days, with just 27% and 30% of their respective bills paid within a 30-day period. It wasn’t all bad news: housebuilder Barratt came in with a speedy 23 days, while Willmott Dixon managed 33 days and Lendlease paid within 35 days on average.

Suppliers have long put up with slow payment periods, but the issue has been under greater scrutiny ever since Carillion went under owing its 30,000 subcontractors an estimated £2bn. Network Rail responded in June by introducing 28-day payment periods and banning retentions, a move many think could be a catalyst for other public sector clients to clamp down on main contractors holding onto cash. The theory is that if the likes of Amey, Balfour Beatty, Kier and Skanska are willing to accept a hard line on payment terms from Network Rail, they can do the same for other clients.

By all means let’s highlight main contractors’ payment periods and hold them to account if their terms are unfair, but if we’re going to name and shame let’s also hold clients to the same standards

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