Their own payment-practices filing · gov.uk

Action for Children pays suppliers in 65 days on average — 35 days past its stated terms

CRN 04764232 · Health & social care · 12 statutory reports on record · period to 31 Mar 2026

65daysavg time to pay · H1 2026

Their H1 2026 filing puts the average 35 days past the 30-day term they state.

Well behindvs a 31-day median across 6,104 recent filers

Their stated terms: 30 days
Paid outside agreed terms: 80% of invoices
Paid after 61+ days: 17%
Reporting period: 1 Oct 2025 – 31 Mar 2026
Source: their gov.uk filing, filed 28 Apr 2026

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

Terms vs reality · their H1 2026 filing

Paid 35 days past their stated terms

PAIDLATE · terms vs the clockdays to pay · 0–75

avg 65d

0 days75 days

reported avg 65 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 73% 31–60 days 10% 61+ days 17%

Source: their statutory Payment Practices Report #111069, period 1 Oct 2025 – 31 Mar 2026, filed 28 Apr 2026 · gov.uk payment-practices service

Action for Children pays 35 days past its own stated terms. 80% 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 12 reports

38 → 65 days — slowing down

PAIDLATE · the patternavg days per report

Last 6 of 12 filed reports · linear day scale · every period is in the table below · Source: gov.uk payment-practices service

27 days slower across the window. From 38 days in H2 2023 to 65 in the H1 2026 filing; the dashed line marks the 30-day term they state.

The read · computed from their figures

Action for Children's H1 2026 filing puts their average at 65 days against stated terms of 30 days; 80% of invoices were paid outside agreed terms and 17% took 61 days or longer. Filed 28 Apr 2026.

The direction is slower: from 38 days in H2 2023 to 65 now — 27 days slower across their last 6 reports.

On the latest reported averages: Slower than 96% of the 138 large companies reporting in health & social care.

That is 12 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

30 days from invoice date

Dispute resolution

Concerns in relation to payments should be addressed to [email protected] where they will be dealt with promptly. Supplier reconciliations are actioned

Every statutory report on record

Most recent first.

Period	Avg days	Outside terms	61+ days	Filed
H1 2026	65	80%	17%	28 Apr 2026
H2 2025	56	87%	10%	30 Oct 2025
H1 2025	58	87%	11%	24 Apr 2025
H2 2024	43	38%	15%	29 Oct 2024
H1 2024	38	40%	8%	29 Apr 2024
H2 2023	38	36%	10%	24 Oct 2023
H1 2023	43	46%	11%	26 Apr 2023
H2 2022	32	54%	14%	20 Oct 2022
H2 2021	39	45%	10%	29 Oct 2021
H2 2019	47	57%	20%	20 Nov 2020
H1 2019	43	60%	14%	29 Apr 2019
H2 2018	45	63%	14%	29 Apr 2019

On the public register · Companies House

Company record

Status: Active
Type: PRI/LBG/NSC (Private, Limited by guarantee, no share capital, use of 'Limited' exemption)
Incorporated: 14 May 2003
Registered office: 3 THE BOULEVARD, WATFORD, WD18 8AG

31 outstanding charges — secured borrowing registered Accounts due 31 Dec 2026

Open the full record at Companies House.

Illustrative · working-capital arithmetic

What a 65-day cycle ties up

A worked example, not a finding. On a hypothetical £12k/month account, at a 65-day vs a 30-day payment cycle.

≈ £25,500

of invoicing outstanding at any one time on a 65-day cycle — about £13,800 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 · Action for Children

Are they getting slower or faster?

Their reported average has moved about 27 days slower over the window (38 → 65 days).

What's their typical pay point?

Their latest filed report puts the average at day 65; across their last 6 reports it ranged 38–65 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 Action for Children (free)

Their next payment report is due ≈ 27 Oct 2026. 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-04764232 · latest period to 31 Mar 2026

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