Their own payment-practices filing · gov.uk

Socotec UK Limited pays suppliers in 49 days on average — 19 days past its stated terms

CRN 02880501 · Professional & technical services · 17 statutory reports on record · period to 30 Jun 2026

49daysavg time to pay · H1 2026

Their H1 2026 filing puts the average 19 days past the 30-day term they state.

Slower than mostvs a 31-day median across 6,104 recent filers

Their stated terms: 30 days
Paid outside agreed terms: 10% of invoices
Paid after 61+ days: 17%
Reporting period: 1 Jan 2026 – 30 Jun 2026
Source: their gov.uk filing, filed 13 Jul 2026

Self-reported figures from their statutory filing. How this is compiled.

Terms vs reality · their H1 2026 filing

Paid 19 days past their stated terms

PAIDLATE · terms vs the clockdays to pay · 0–55

avg 49d

0 days55 days

reported avg 49 days their filed terms 30 days UK median 31 days · n = 6,104 recent filers

Where their invoices landed · share of all invoices

within 30 days 19% 31–60 days 64% 61+ days 17%

Source: their statutory Payment Practices Report #112778, period 1 Jan 2026 – 30 Jun 2026, filed 13 Jul 2026 · gov.uk payment-practices service

Socotec UK Limited pays 19 days past its own stated terms. 10% of invoices still went outside agreed terms; 17% reached 61 days or more. Self-reported in their statutory H1 2026 filing.

The pattern · last 6 of 17 reports

56 → 49 days — getting faster

PAIDLATE · the patternavg days per report

Last 6 of 17 filed reports · linear day scale · every period is in the table below · Source: gov.uk payment-practices service

7 days faster across the window. From 56 days in H2 2023 to 49 in the H1 2026 filing; the dashed line marks the 30-day term they state.

The read · computed from their figures

Socotec UK Limited's H1 2026 filing puts their average at 49 days against stated terms of 30 days; 10% of invoices were paid outside agreed terms and 17% took 61 days or longer. Filed 13 Jul 2026.

The direction is faster: from 56 days in H2 2023 to 49 now — 7 days faster across their last 6 reports.

On the latest reported averages: Slower than 81% of the 510 large companies reporting in professional & technical services.

That is 17 statutory periods on record (earliest H1 2018) — a historical record, not a promise for a new invoice.

In their own words · from the filing

Standard payment terms

SOCOTEC UK's standard payment terms are 30 days EOM which are notified to suppliers by referring to the company's terms and conditions. The standard terms and conditions are referred to in each purchase order the company issues.

Dispute resolution

All disputes on invoices are referred back to the supplier by the business unit that placed the order. Once purchase invoices are agreed they are passed to the central finance team to process.

Every statutory report on record

Most recent first.

Period	Avg days	Outside terms	61+ days	Filed
H1 2026	49	10%	17%	13 Jul 2026
H2 2025	56	20%	24%	20 Feb 2026
H1 2025	61	63%	30%	15 Aug 2025
H2 2024	70	76%	39%	11 Aug 2025
H1 2024	59	47%	27%	23 Jul 2024
H2 2023	56	45%	24%	19 Mar 2024
H1 2023	67	49%	39%	20 Dec 2023
H2 2022	53	51%	23%	23 May 2023
H1 2022	63	27%	42%	28 Jul 2022
H2 2021	63	44%	38%	24 Jun 2022
H1 2021	63	42%	40%	1 Sept 2021
H2 2020	64	34%	43%	15 Feb 2021
H1 2020	66	15%	53%	30 Jul 2020
H2 2019	66	39%	48%	30 Jan 2020
H1 2019	64	25%	47%	21 Oct 2019
H2 2018	61	24%	45%	22 Jul 2019
H1 2018	66	28%	50%	30 Jul 2018

On the public register · Companies House

Company record

Status: Active
Type: Private Limited Company
Incorporated: 14 Dec 1993
Registered office: SOCOTEC HOUSE BRETBY BUSINESS PARK, BRETBY, DE15 0YZ

2 outstanding charges — secured borrowing registered Accounts due 30 Sept 2026 — overdue

Open the full record at Companies House.

Illustrative · working-capital arithmetic

What a 49-day cycle ties up

A worked example, not a finding. On a hypothetical £12k/month account, at a 49-day vs a 30-day payment cycle.

≈ £19,500

of invoicing outstanding at any one time on a 49-day cycle — about £7,500 more than the same account would carry at 30-day terms.

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 · Socotec UK Limited

Are they getting slower or faster?

Their reported average has moved about 7 days faster over the window (56 → 49 days).

What's their typical pay point?

Their latest filed report puts the average at day 49; across their last 6 reports it ranged 49–70 days. Treat that as a historical reference point, not a promise for a new invoice.

Can I see what this means for my invoices?

Run the live check — it re-reads their record and their live Companies House file, on the amount you invoice.

Stay ahead

Watch Socotec UK Limited (free)

Their next payment report is due ≈ 26 Jan 2027. We watch their public record and email you when something changes — a new payment report, late filings, insolvency markers, new charges.

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How UK payment reporting works

What is a Payment Practices Report?

UK companies and LLPs above a size threshold — broadly, two of: turnover over £54m, balance sheet over £27m, or more than 250 employees — must report twice a year, under the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017, how quickly they actually pay suppliers: the average time to pay, the share of invoices paid in 30 days or fewer, 31 to 60 days and 61 days or longer, and their standard payment terms. Those thresholds apply to financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025; for earlier financial years they were £36m and £18m, with the same 250-employee test.

What does "paid outside agreed terms" mean?

The share of invoices paid later than the terms in the supplier contract. If terms are 30 days and an invoice is paid on day 45, it counts as paid outside terms, regardless of the headline average.

How often is this data updated?

Each report covers a six-month period and must be filed within 30 days of that period ending, so a company's record refreshes roughly twice a year. PaidLate re-reads the register as new reports are filed.

Is this official government data?

The underlying payment figures come from the company's own statutory filings on the gov.uk payment-practices service; company-status data comes from Companies House. PaidLate calculates trends, comparisons and summaries from those records. It does not use surveys or credit-agency scores.

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-02880501 · latest period to 30 Jun 2026

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