Their own payment-practices filing · gov.uk
Tesco Distribution Limited pays suppliers in 59 days on average — within its stated 5–60 day terms
Their H1 2026 filing puts the average 54 days past the shortest term they state (5 days), still within their 60-day upper term.
- Their stated terms
- 5–60 days
- Paid outside agreed terms
- 1% of invoices
- Paid after 61+ days
- 69%
- Reporting period
- 2 Mar 2026 – 30 Aug 2026
- Source
- their gov.uk filing, filed 28 Sept 2026
Self-reported figures from their statutory filing. How this is compiled.
Terms vs reality · their H1 2026 filing
Paid within their stated range — 59 against 5–60 days
Where their invoices landed · share of all invoices
The pattern · last 6 of 17 reports
55 → 59 days — slowing down
The read · computed from their figures
Tesco Distribution Limited's H1 2026 filing puts their average at 59 days against stated terms of 5–60 days; 1% of invoices were paid outside agreed terms and 69% took 61 days or longer. Filed 28 Sept 2026.
The direction is slower: from 55 days in H1 2024 to 59 now — 4 days slower across their last 6 reports.
On the latest reported averages: Slower than 96% of the 245 large companies reporting in transport & storage.
That is 17 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
5 days – small suppliers with up to £250,000 (inclusive of VAT) of business with the Company each year. 60 days – large suppliers, greater than £250,000 (inclusive of VAT) of business with the Company each year. The business has standardized payment terms across each category (The business also has 30 day & 45 day term).
Dispute resolution
The business manages all queries through an incident management tool and has a dedicated team to manage queries. If there is a dispute, the business will call/email the relevant vendors and follow up with an email to resolve. All queries raised by vendors are usually resolved within 7 days. The business has an escalation matrix which is shared with all vendors. The business conducts periodic governance reviews on the performance of the query team to ensure that queries are resolved timely and satisfactorily, thereby ensuring a build-up of invoices on hold is avoided and vendors are paid accurately.
Every statutory report on record
Most recent first.
| Period | Avg days | Outside terms | 61+ days | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1 2026 | 59 | 1% | 69% | 28 Sept 2026 |
| H1 2026 | 58 | 1% | 67% | 30 Mar 2026 |
| H1 2025 | 58 | 1% | 62% | 22 Sept 2025 |
| H1 2025 | 57 | 2% | 60% | 21 Mar 2025 |
| H1 2024 | 55 | 2% | 53% | 23 Sept 2024 |
| H1 2024 | 55 | 3% | 50% | 25 Mar 2024 |
| H1 2023 | 53 | 2% | 39% | 25 Sept 2023 |
| H1 2023 | 52 | 2% | 30% | 24 Mar 2023 |
| H1 2022 | 50 | 2% | 19% | 23 Sept 2022 |
| H1 2022 | 45 | 2% | 4% | 25 Mar 2022 |
| H1 2021 | 44 | 2% | 5% | 28 Sept 2021 |
| H1 2021 | 41 | 2% | 1% | 29 Mar 2021 |
| H1 2020 | 39 | 2% | 1% | 28 Sept 2020 |
| H1 2020 | 41 | 2% | 1% | 30 Mar 2020 |
| H1 2019 | 38 | 8% | 3% | 24 Sept 2019 |
| H1 2019 | 42 | 16% | 9% | 26 Mar 2019 |
| H1 2018 | 36 | 2% | 0% | 25 Sept 2018 |
On the public register · Companies House
Company record
- Status
- Active
- Type
- Private Limited Company
- Incorporated
- 30 Sept 1994
- Registered office
- TESCO HOUSE, SHIRE PARK, WELWYN GARDEN CITY, AL7 1GA
Illustrative · working-capital arithmetic
What a 59-day cycle ties up
A worked example, not a finding. On a hypothetical £12k/month account, at a 59-day vs a 5-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 · Tesco Distribution 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-02972724 · latest period to 30 Aug 2026
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