In 2012, Unilever was proud to be one of the first companies to sign up to the UK Government’s voluntary Prompt Payment Code (PPC). We have recently been advised that Unilever UK has been suspended from the Code due to recent changes made to the criteria.
Unilever’s payment terms have not changed in any way recently and we remain fully committed to paying all our suppliers fairly and on time, with all our payment terms mutually agreed up-front.
The Prompt Payment Code has always required companies to achieve payment of at least 90% of invoices within 60 days. Previously, for companies like Unilever, who have mutually agreed terms with suppliers that fall outside of this, the PPC took into consideration that we prioritise smaller suppliers, SMEs and charities with payment terms of 30 days.
We believe we are still fully honouring the spirit of the Prompt Payment Code and during 2019, Unilever UK has paid more than 96% of our invoices on time.
We will be discussing this further with the Prompt Payment Code administrator.