Their own payment-practices filing · gov.uk
Northumbrian Water Limited pays suppliers in 36 days on average — within its stated 14–45 day terms
Their H1 2026 filing puts the average 22 days past the shortest term they state (14 days), still within their 45-day upper term.
- Their stated terms
- 14–45 days
- Paid outside agreed terms
- 4% of invoices
- Paid after 61+ days
- 2%
- Reporting period
- 1 Oct 2025 – 31 Mar 2026
- Source
- their gov.uk filing, filed 27 Apr 2026
Self-reported figures from their statutory filing. How this is compiled.
Terms vs reality · their H1 2026 filing
Paid within their stated range — 36 against 14–45 days
Where their invoices landed · share of all invoices
The pattern · last 6 of 16 reports
Holding steady around 36 days
The read · computed from their figures
Northumbrian Water Limited's H1 2026 filing puts their average at 36 days against stated terms of 14–45 days; 4% of invoices were paid outside agreed terms and 2% took 61 days or longer. Filed 27 Apr 2026.
The pattern is steady — their reported average moves within about ±1 days period to period.
On the latest reported averages: Faster than 61% of the 62 large companies reporting in water & waste.
That is 16 statutory periods on record (earliest H2 2018) — a historical record, not a promise for a new invoice.
In their own words · from the filing
Standard payment terms
Standard payment terms are dependent upon the type of contract: small supplier contracts (14 days), construction contracts (40 days) or general goods and services contracts (45 days). Variations to these standard payment terms are by exception only and are only applied when negotiated and agreed by both parties
Dispute resolution
NWL has strong relationships with its suppliers and as a result has very few examples where payment of invoices has been in dispute. Our initial payment dispute process is that, either by a meeting or discussion between the NWL person named on the Purchase Order and a representative of the Supplier, agreement should be reached. If no agreement is reached within ten Working Days the dispute is escalated to the Head of Procurement of NWL and a representative of the Supplier of comparable rank and position. Further, if no agreement is reached within ten Working Days, the dispute is escalated again to an appropriate director of NWL and a director or equivalent of the Supplier. If following this process no agreement is reached the payment dispute may be referred to the Centre for Dispute Resolu
Every statutory report on record
Most recent first.
| Period | Avg days | Outside terms | 61+ days | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1 2026 | 36 | 4% | 2% | 27 Apr 2026 |
| H2 2025 | 36 | 4% | 2% | 29 Oct 2025 |
| H1 2025 | 36 | 3% | 1% | 29 Apr 2025 |
| H2 2024 | 34 | 3% | 1% | 25 Oct 2024 |
| H1 2024 | 35 | 3% | 1% | 23 Apr 2024 |
| H2 2023 | 36 | 3% | 1% | 25 Oct 2023 |
| H1 2023 | 35 | 4% | 1% | 25 Apr 2023 |
| H2 2022 | 36 | 5% | 2% | 21 Oct 2022 |
| H1 2022 | 36 | 6% | 2% | 27 Apr 2022 |
| H2 2021 | 35 | 6% | 2% | 22 Oct 2021 |
| H1 2021 | 35 | 6% | 2% | 29 Apr 2021 |
| H2 2020 | 34 | 5% | 1% | 30 Oct 2020 |
| H1 2020 | 33 | 4% | 1% | 27 Apr 2020 |
| H2 2019 | 33 | 4% | 1% | 21 Oct 2019 |
| H1 2019 | 34 | 4% | 1% | 17 Apr 2019 |
| H2 2018 | 34 | 4% | 1% | 19 Oct 2018 |
On the public register · Companies House
Company record
- Status
- Active
- Type
- Private Limited Company
- Incorporated
- 1 Apr 1989
- Registered office
- NORTHUMBRIA HOUSE, PITY ME, DH1 5FJ
Illustrative · working-capital arithmetic
What a 36-day cycle ties up
A worked example, not a finding. On a hypothetical £12k/month account, at a 36-day vs a 14-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 · Northumbrian Water Limited
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More large companies in water & waste
Northumberland Energy Recovery Ltd · Nuvia Limited · Northern Ireland Water Limited · Personnel Hygiene Services Limited · Mitie Waste & Environmental Services Limited · Portsmouth Water Limited
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-02366703 · latest period to 31 Mar 2026
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