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Their own payment-practices filing · gov.uk

Coombe Academy Trust pays suppliers in 17 days on average — within its stated 7–30 day terms

CRN 07905433 · Education · 18 statutory reports on record · period to 31 Aug 2026

17daysavg time to pay · H1 2026

Their H1 2026 filing puts the average 10 days past the shortest term they state (7 days), still within their 30-day upper term.

Faster than mostvs a 31-day median across 6,104 recent filers
Their stated terms
7–30 days
Paid outside agreed terms
25% of invoices
Paid after 61+ days
1%
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 within their stated range — 17 against 7–30 days

The pattern · last 6 of 18 reports

Holding steady around 17 days

The read · computed from their figures

Coombe Academy Trust's H1 2026 filing puts their average at 17 days against stated terms of 7–30 days; 25% of invoices were paid outside agreed terms and 1% took 61 days or longer. Filed 30 Sept 2026.

The pattern is steady — their reported average moves within about ±2 days period to period.

On the latest reported averages: Faster than 82% of the 309 large companies reporting in education.

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

The Trust manages payment runs every 2 weeks in term time. In school holidays, the frequency is affected as payment authorizers are usually off site. This causes some invoices to be paid outside of suppliers' credit terms, particularly those with terms of less than 30 days. To make payment processing more efficient, suppliers should only engage in business with the Trust on receipt of an official purchase order and should send their invoices directly to the finance department.

Dispute resolution

The Trust's financial procedures require budget holders to check their deliveries against the purchase order and notify the finance team of any discrepancies within 2 days. The finance officer will promptly follow this up with the supplier. Should the matter not be resolved satisfactorily, it will be passed back to the budget holder for further investigation and information in the first instance, and subsequently referred to the senior finance officer for monitoring the dispute status. The Trust aims to resolve queries as quickly as possible, so payment can still be made within the standard 30 days. However, this depends on the nature of the query and how quickly a supplier issues a credit note if applicable.

Every statutory report on record

Most recent first.

PeriodAvg daysOutside terms61+ daysFiled
H1 20261725%1%30 Sept 2026
H1 20261620%1%30 Mar 2026
H1 20251728%1%29 Sept 2025
H1 20251921%1%31 Mar 2025
H1 20242023%1%30 Sept 2024
H1 20241923%1%26 Mar 2024
H1 20231924%1%29 Sept 2023
H1 20232023%2%31 Mar 2023
H1 20222225%1%30 Sept 2022
H1 20222031%1%23 Mar 2022
H1 20212226%1%30 Sept 2021
H1 20212128%1%24 Mar 2021
H1 20202129%1%30 Sept 2020
H1 20202332%2%25 Mar 2020
H1 20192137%2%27 Sept 2019
H1 20192334%2%29 Mar 2019
H1 20181824%0%28 Sept 2018
H1 20181822%1%28 Mar 2018

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
11 Jan 2012
Registered office
C/O COOMBE BOYS SCHOOL COLLEGE GARDENS, NEW MALDEN, KT3 6NU
0 outstanding charges on the register Accounts due 31 May 2027

Open the full record at Companies House.

Illustrative · working-capital arithmetic

What a 17-day cycle ties up

A worked example, not a finding. On a hypothetical £12k/month account, at a 17-day vs a 7-day payment cycle.

≈ £6,500
of invoicing outstanding at any one time on a 17-day cycle — about £3,900 more than the same account would carry at 7-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 · Coombe Academy Trust

Are they getting slower or faster?
Their reported average is steady — within about ±2 days period to period, around 17 days.
What's their typical pay point?
Their latest reports average around day 17, moving within about ±2 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.
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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-07905433 · latest period to 31 Aug 2026

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