Their own payment-practices filing · gov.uk
WH Smith Hospitals Limited pays suppliers in 46 days on average — inside its 90-day stated terms
Their H1 2026 filing puts the average 44 days inside their stated 90-day term.
- Their stated terms
- 90 days
- Paid outside agreed terms
- 39% of invoices
- Paid after 61+ days
- 30%
- Reporting period
- 1 Mar 2026 – 31 Aug 2026
- Source
- their gov.uk filing, filed 30 Sept 2026
Self-reported figures from their statutory filing. How this is compiled.
Terms vs reality · their H1 2026 filing
Paid 44 days inside the 90-day term they state
Where their invoices landed · share of all invoices
The pattern · last 6 of 18 reports
49 → 46 days — getting faster
The read · computed from their figures
WH Smith Hospitals Limited's H1 2026 filing puts their average at 46 days against stated terms of 90 days; 39% of invoices were paid outside agreed terms and 30% took 61 days or longer. Filed 30 Sept 2026.
The direction is faster: from 49 days in H1 2024 to 46 now — 3 days faster across their last 6 reports.
On the latest reported averages: Slower than 72% of the 815 large companies reporting in wholesale & retail trade.
That is 18 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
WHSmith standard payment terms are 90 days after the end of the month of receipt by WHSmith of a proper invoice or if later after the acceptance of the Goods or Services. However, WHSmith negotiates payment terms individually with suppliers and on a product specific basis. Any contractual package agreed by WHSmith and the supplier usually includes payment terms which are lower than the standard 90 days terms. The WHSmith vendor buyer agreement allows for the offset of amounts owed by the supplier against invoices owed to the supplier. This is normal business practice and protects amounts that are owed to WHSmith. An invoice is deemed settled when it is fully offset by amounts owed to WHSmith.
Dispute resolution
The Business has an ongoing communication with Suppliers through both the Trading and the financial accounting teams. Payment disputes will be directed to the financial accounting teams for resolution in the first instance and will be escalated to the Trading teams where there is a contractual query.
Every statutory report on record
Most recent first.
| Period | Avg days | Outside terms | 61+ days | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1 2026 | 46 | 39% | 30% | 30 Sept 2026 |
| H1 2026 | 54 | 26% | 44% | 27 Mar 2026 |
| H1 2025 | 53 | 34% | 41% | 30 Sept 2025 |
| H1 2025 | 52 | 35% | 23% | 27 Mar 2025 |
| H1 2024 | 63 | 31% | 27% | 24 Sept 2024 |
| H1 2024 | 49 | 6% | 18% | 28 Mar 2024 |
| H1 2023 | 83 | 33% | 24% | 19 Sept 2023 |
| H1 2023 | 83 | 15% | 24% | 27 Mar 2023 |
| H1 2022 | 56 | 15% | 23% | 13 Sept 2022 |
| H1 2022 | 59 | 20% | 24% | 14 Mar 2022 |
| H1 2021 | 56 | 16% | 25% | 11 Sept 2021 |
| H1 2021 | 59 | 22% | 20% | 15 Mar 2021 |
| H1 2020 | 50 | 28% | 16% | 11 Sept 2020 |
| H1 2020 | 49 | 26% | 16% | 14 Mar 2020 |
| H1 2019 | 40 | 29% | 8% | 12 Sept 2019 |
| H1 2019 | 46 | 26% | 14% | 13 Mar 2019 |
| H1 2018 | 42 | 25% | 8% | 20 Sept 2018 |
| H1 2018 | 40 | 28% | 12% | 29 Mar 2018 |
On the public register · Companies House
Company record
- Status
- Active
- Type
- Private Limited Company
- Incorporated
- 27 Apr 2000
- Registered office
- WINDMILL HILL BUSINESS PARK, SWINDON, SN5 6PB
Quick answers · WH Smith Hospitals Limited
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How UK payment reporting works
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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-03981392 · latest period to 31 Aug 2026
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