Their own payment-practices filing · gov.uk
National Express Limited pays suppliers in 38 days on average — within its stated 21–45 day terms
Their H2 2025 filing puts the average 17 days past the shortest term they state (21 days), still within their 45-day upper term.
- Their stated terms
- 21–45 days
- Paid outside agreed terms
- 11% of invoices
- Paid after 61+ days
- 0%
- Reporting period
- 1 Jul 2025 – 31 Dec 2025
- Source
- their gov.uk filing, filed 26 Jan 2026
Self-reported figures from their statutory filing. How this is compiled.
Terms vs reality · their H2 2025 filing
Paid within their stated range — 38 against 21–45 days
Where their invoices landed · share of all invoices
The pattern · last 6 of 16 reports
22 → 38 days — slowing down
The read · computed from their figures
National Express Limited's H2 2025 filing puts their average at 38 days against stated terms of 21–45 days; 11% of invoices were paid outside agreed terms and 0% took 61 days or longer. Filed 26 Jan 2026.
The direction is slower: from 22 days in H1 2023 to 38 now — 16 days slower across their last 6 reports.
On the latest reported averages: Slower than 61% of the 245 large companies reporting in transport & storage.
That is 16 statutory periods on record (earliest H1 2018) — a historical record, not a promise for a new invoice.
What they tell their suppliers
In their own words · from the filing
Standard payment terms
National Express Limited operates two types of contracts, namely for specific operator services and general goods and services. Operator services payments are settled within 21 days following the contract period-end date. Invoices related to general goods and services contracts will be paid within 45 days after the date on which National Express Limited received the invoice provided it has been supplied together with a valid purchase order number and full details of the services, including goods if relevant, delivered, including description, quantity, price and value added tax
Dispute resolution
The Supplier invoice dispute process is administered by accounts payable within National Express Limited Shared Services Centre. In the event a dispute cannot be resolved between the Supplier and Accounts Payable the dispute us escalated to the Head of Shared Services who will take ownership of the dispute and investigate the circumstances with all parties concerned to seek to achieve an agreed resolution. If the dispute still cannot be resolved, it may be escalated to relevant individuals within the relevant business unit and, if such escalation does not resolve the dispute, the relevant resolution mechanism in the relevant supply contract will be relied on to resolve the dispute.
Every statutory report on record
Most recent first.
| Period | Avg days | Outside terms | 61+ days | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H2 2025 | 38 | 11% | 0% | 26 Jan 2026 |
| H1 2025 | 41 | 12% | 2% | 5 Aug 2025 |
| H2 2024 | 18 | 2% | 2% | 30 Jan 2025 |
| H1 2024 | 17 | 1% | 1% | 19 Jul 2024 |
| H2 2023 | 23 | 3% | 3% | 31 Jan 2024 |
| H1 2023 | 22 | 4% | 4% | 14 Jul 2023 |
| H2 2022 | 19 | 2% | 2% | 30 Jan 2023 |
| H1 2022 | 18 | 4% | 4% | 26 Jul 2022 |
| H2 2021 | 25 | 3% | 3% | 27 Jan 2022 |
| H1 2021 | 25 | 9% | 9% | 5 Aug 2021 |
| H2 2020 | 47 | 17% | 17% | 28 Jan 2021 |
| H1 2020 | 28 | 10% | 5% | 31 Jul 2020 |
| H2 2019 | 27 | 9% | 4% | 30 Jan 2020 |
| H1 2019 | 25 | 17% | 3% | 30 Jul 2019 |
| H2 2018 | 23 | 18% | 3% | 30 Jul 2019 |
| H1 2018 | 22 | 7% | 3% | 30 Jul 2018 |
On the public register · Companies House
Company record
- Status
- Active
- Type
- Private Limited Company
- Incorporated
- 18 Aug 1928
- Registered office
- NATIONAL EXPRESS HOUSE BIRMINGHAM COACH STATION, MILL LANE, BIRMINGHAM, B5 6DD
Illustrative · working-capital arithmetic
What a 38-day cycle ties up
A worked example, not a finding. On a hypothetical £12k/month account, at a 38-day vs a 21-day payment cycle.
Late Payment Act. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets a supplier charge statutory interest and fixed compensation on invoices paid past agreed terms. Work out what a late invoice is worth → Whether it applies depends on your contract — check with an adviser.
Quick answers · National Express Limited
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How UK payment reporting works
What is a Payment Practices Report?
What does "paid outside agreed terms" mean?
How often is this data updated?
Is this official government data?
How this is compiled. Built from official records only: Companies House and the gov.uk payment-practices service. The payment figures are self-reported — companies over the size threshold must file them by law and the board signs them off. No credit-agency data. The numbers are theirs; the plain-English read is ours. This is information compiled from public records under the Open Government Licence v3.0 — not a credit rating and not advice.
The 31-day comparison figure is the median across 6,104 companies with a current statutory report — every sector pooled, not an average of sector medians (how the figure is built).
Report PL-00232767 · latest period to 31 Dec 2025
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