Council reduces invoice payment time

From today (Monday 12 January) Rochdale Council is to pay invoices from small and medium businesses more quickly.

The council has traditionally paid invoices within 30 days of receipt, but has decided to speed up the process for small and medium sized businesses to ten days.

Many of these businesses are based in the Rochdale area and the Council hopes the move will help them in the current economic climate.

Businesses that employ fewer than 250 people and have an annual turnover of less than £40 million should receive payment for their invoices within 10 days of receipt, provided that there are no queries on the invoices.

Councillor Greg Couzens, cabinet member for finance, said: “We are always looking for ways to boost our local economy and we decided one way we could do that is by paying smaller, mainly local, companies for the goods and services we buy more quickly. It’s not possible, without employing more people, to pay all companies within 10 days, but we can speed up the payment process for those companies that will benefit most at this difficult time.”

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen suggested the idea when an agreement was made at a meeting of the council’s cabinet late last year. Commenting on the news that the Council has implemented the plan, he said: "Many businesses in Rochdale provide services to our Council and this will provide a boost for them in difficult times. This Council is acting robustly to combat the effects of the credit crunch and imminent recession. Other examples include their proactive approach to help people who have lost their jobs after companies like Woolworths went under.”