UK Days to Pay by Sector
Data as of October 2026, covering reporting periods ending 2025-10-14 to 2026-10-14. Computed from statutory gov.uk Payment Practices Reporting filings. Every figure traces to the official export.
Large UK businesses took a median of 32 days to pay their suppliers over the last 12 months, based on 10,285 statutory Payment Practices reports filed by 5,989 large companies. Manufacturing is the slowest-paying sector at a median of 45 days, with 24.4% of its invoices on average paid later than 60 days. Financial and insurance activities is the fastest at a median of 21 days.
Manufacturing pays suppliers slowest in the UK: a median of 45 days, against 21 days in financial and insurance activities. Source: gov.uk Payment Practices Reporting
Sector league table, slowest payers first
"Days to pay" is each company's statutorily reported average time to pay an invoice; we show the median and mean across all reports in the sector. Percentages are sector means of the reported shares.
| # | Sector (SIC 2007 section) | Median days to pay | Mean days | % paid within 30 days | % paid after 60 days | % beyond agreed terms | Reports (companies) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manufacturing (C) | 45 | 47.4 | 36.8% | 24.4% | 28.3% | 1,691 (963) |
| 2 | Wholesale and retail trade (G) | 37 | 39.1 | 48.2% | 16.1% | 22.6% | 1,415 (800) |
| 3 | Water supply, sewerage and waste (E) | 37 | 37.4 | 49.2% | 10.6% | 26.1% | 86 (60) |
| 4 | Transportation and storage (H) | 35 | 35.3 | 52.7% | 8.5% | 20.2% | 400 (243) |
| 5 | Accommodation and food service (I) | 34 | 33.7 | 54.9% | 9.7% | 16.8% | 232 (142) |
| 6 | Construction (F) | 33 | 34.7 | 53.9% | 10.1% | 18.4% | 646 (390) |
| 7 | Mining and quarrying (B) | 32 | 35 | 59.5% | 12.3% | 22% | 181 (95) |
| 8 | Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 32 | 34.2 | 57.4% | 11.1% | 21.2% | 65 (37) |
| 9 | Professional, scientific and technical (M) | 31 | 35.4 | 62.3% | 11.7% | 22.2% | 836 (500) |
| 10 | Other service activities (S) | 31 | 33.7 | 62.4% | 9.8% | 21.6% | 187 (109) |
| 11 | Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 30.5 | 31.9 | 62.9% | 7.3% | 18.4% | 128 (72) |
| 12 | Information and communication (J) | 29 | 32.6 | 66.8% | 9.2% | 24% | 800 (469) |
| 13 | Real estate activities (L) | 28 | 31.9 | 68.9% | 8.2% | 23.5% | 109 (69) |
| 14 | Administrative and support services (N) | 27 | 30 | 67.3% | 8.7% | 19.7% | 1,015 (583) |
| 15 | Other sectors (small sample) | 27 | 29.6 | 65.7% | 4.5% | 17.5% | 22 (16) |
| 16 | Electricity, gas and air conditioning (D) | 26 | 28.2 | 71.3% | 5.3% | 14.6% | 248 (154) |
| 17 | Human health and social work (Q) | 25 | 29.2 | 72.5% | 5.6% | 16.2% | 209 (135) |
| 18 | Education (P) | 25 | 24.6 | 79.6% | 4.5% | 18.8% | 544 (293) |
| 19 | Financial and insurance activities (K) | 21 | 24.2 | 79.3% | 6.1% | 18.5% | 1,100 (633) |
UK average across all reports in the window: median 32 days, mean 34.6 days. 371 reports could not be mapped to a sector (dissolved or unmatched companies) and are included in the UK average only.
| # | Sector (SIC 2007 section) | Median days to pay | Mean days | % paid within 30 days | % paid after 60 days | % beyond agreed terms | Reports | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manufacturing (C) | 45 | 47.4 | 36.8 | 24.4 | 28.3 | 1,691 | 963 |
| 2 | Wholesale and retail trade (G) | 37 | 39.1 | 48.2 | 16.1 | 22.6 | 1,415 | 800 |
| 3 | Water supply, sewerage and waste (E) | 37 | 37.4 | 49.2 | 10.6 | 26.1 | 86 | 60 |
| 4 | Transportation and storage (H) | 35 | 35.3 | 52.7 | 8.5 | 20.2 | 400 | 243 |
| 5 | Accommodation and food service (I) | 34 | 33.7 | 54.9 | 9.7 | 16.8 | 232 | 142 |
| 6 | Construction (F) | 33 | 34.7 | 53.9 | 10.1 | 18.4 | 646 | 390 |
| 7 | Mining and quarrying (B) | 32 | 35 | 59.5 | 12.3 | 22 | 181 | 95 |
| 8 | Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 32 | 34.2 | 57.4 | 11.1 | 21.2 | 65 | 37 |
| 9 | Professional, scientific and technical (M) | 31 | 35.4 | 62.3 | 11.7 | 22.2 | 836 | 500 |
| 10 | Other service activities (S) | 31 | 33.7 | 62.4 | 9.8 | 21.6 | 187 | 109 |
| 11 | Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 30.5 | 31.9 | 62.9 | 7.3 | 18.4 | 128 | 72 |
| 12 | Information and communication (J) | 29 | 32.6 | 66.8 | 9.2 | 24 | 800 | 469 |
| 13 | Real estate activities (L) | 28 | 31.9 | 68.9 | 8.2 | 23.5 | 109 | 69 |
| 14 | Administrative and support services (N) | 27 | 30 | 67.3 | 8.7 | 19.7 | 1,015 | 583 |
| 15 | Other sectors (small sample) | 27 | 29.6 | 65.7 | 4.5 | 17.5 | 22 | 16 |
| 16 | Electricity, gas and air conditioning (D) | 26 | 28.2 | 71.3 | 5.3 | 14.6 | 248 | 154 |
| 17 | Human health and social work (Q) | 25 | 29.2 | 72.5 | 5.6 | 16.2 | 209 | 135 |
| 18 | Education (P) | 25 | 24.6 | 79.6 | 4.5 | 18.8 | 544 | 293 |
| 19 | Financial and insurance activities (K) | 21 | 24.2 | 79.3 | 6.1 | 18.5 | 1,100 | 633 |
Source: Market Invoice, computed from gov.uk Payment Practices Reporting (Open Government Licence v3.0), aggregation CC BY 4.0
View as plain-text Markdown
### UK days to pay by sector, October 2026: slowest-paying industries first | # | Sector (SIC 2007 section) | Median days to pay | Mean days | % paid within 30 days | % paid after 60 days | % beyond agreed terms | Reports | Companies | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Manufacturing (C) | 45 | 47.4 | 36.8 | 24.4 | 28.3 | 1,691 | 963 | | 2 | Wholesale and retail trade (G) | 37 | 39.1 | 48.2 | 16.1 | 22.6 | 1,415 | 800 | | 3 | Water supply, sewerage and waste (E) | 37 | 37.4 | 49.2 | 10.6 | 26.1 | 86 | 60 | | 4 | Transportation and storage (H) | 35 | 35.3 | 52.7 | 8.5 | 20.2 | 400 | 243 | | 5 | Accommodation and food service (I) | 34 | 33.7 | 54.9 | 9.7 | 16.8 | 232 | 142 | | 6 | Construction (F) | 33 | 34.7 | 53.9 | 10.1 | 18.4 | 646 | 390 | | 7 | Mining and quarrying (B) | 32 | 35 | 59.5 | 12.3 | 22 | 181 | 95 | | 8 | Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 32 | 34.2 | 57.4 | 11.1 | 21.2 | 65 | 37 | | 9 | Professional, scientific and technical (M) | 31 | 35.4 | 62.3 | 11.7 | 22.2 | 836 | 500 | | 10 | Other service activities (S) | 31 | 33.7 | 62.4 | 9.8 | 21.6 | 187 | 109 | | 11 | Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 30.5 | 31.9 | 62.9 | 7.3 | 18.4 | 128 | 72 | | 12 | Information and communication (J) | 29 | 32.6 | 66.8 | 9.2 | 24 | 800 | 469 | | 13 | Real estate activities (L) | 28 | 31.9 | 68.9 | 8.2 | 23.5 | 109 | 69 | | 14 | Administrative and support services (N) | 27 | 30 | 67.3 | 8.7 | 19.7 | 1,015 | 583 | | 15 | Other sectors (small sample) | 27 | 29.6 | 65.7 | 4.5 | 17.5 | 22 | 16 | | 16 | Electricity, gas and air conditioning (D) | 26 | 28.2 | 71.3 | 5.3 | 14.6 | 248 | 154 | | 17 | Human health and social work (Q) | 25 | 29.2 | 72.5 | 5.6 | 16.2 | 209 | 135 | | 18 | Education (P) | 25 | 24.6 | 79.6 | 4.5 | 18.8 | 544 | 293 | | 19 | Financial and insurance activities (K) | 21 | 24.2 | 79.3 | 6.1 | 18.5 | 1,100 | 633 | Source: Market Invoice, computed from gov.uk Payment Practices Reporting (Open Government Licence v3.0), aggregation CC BY 4.0
Why this matters to suppliers
These are the payment habits of large UK companies, the customers most small businesses invoice. The Small Business Commissioner estimates £26bn is owed to UK businesses in late payments at any one time (Small Business Commissioner, 2025). If your customers sit in a slow-paying sector above, that median is the cash-flow gap you are financing on their behalf.
The wider late-payment picture is compiled in the UK Late-Payment Index.
Methodology
We download the full report export from the gov.uk "Check when large businesses pay their suppliers" service (Department for Business and Trade, Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0).
We keep every report whose reporting period ended within the last 12 months (2025-10-14 to 2026-10-14) and which states a numeric average time to pay: 10,285 reports from 5,989 companies in this edition. Each reporting company is then matched by company number to its primary SIC 2007 code in the free Companies House Basic Company Data snapshot (2026-10-01) and grouped into the standard SIC section.
Sectors with fewer than 50 reports are folded into "Other sectors (small sample)". We report the median and mean of the reported average time to pay, and the sector mean of each reported percentage. The reporting duty covers large companies and LLPs only, figures are self-reported under a statutory duty, and a company appears once per filed report (most file twice a year). We never adjust or model the figures; what is in the export is what is on this page.
Download the data
The full sector table for this edition is available as a CSV under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (underlying statutory data: Open Government Licence v3.0):
UK Days to Pay by Sector, October 2026 (CSV) Always the newest: uk-days-to-pay-by-sector-latest.csv
Cite this dataset
To reference these figures, please credit MarketInvoice and link to this page:
Source: MarketInvoice, UK Days to Pay by Sector (October 2026), computed from gov.uk Payment Practices Reporting, https://marketinvoice.co.uk/data/uk-days-to-pay-by-sector/ (accessed October 2026).
Common questions
Which UK sector is slowest to pay its suppliers?
Manufacturing is the slowest-paying sector in the current 12-month window, with a median average time to pay of 45 days across 1,691 statutory reports, and 24.4% of invoices on average paid later than 60 days. Financial and insurance activities is the fastest at a median of 21 days.
Where does this days-to-pay data come from?
Every figure is computed from the statutory gov.uk Payment Practices Reporting service ("Check when large businesses pay their suppliers"). Since April 2017, large UK companies and LLPs have had a legal duty to publish their average time to pay and the share of invoices paid late, every six months. We download the full export, keep reports for periods ending in the last 12 months, and group reporting companies into SIC 2007 sectors using the free Companies House register snapshot.
Does this cover small businesses too?
No. The statutory reporting duty only applies to large companies and LLPs (those exceeding two of: £54m turnover, £27m balance sheet, 250 employees, from April 2025). So the table shows how long LARGE businesses take to pay their suppliers, which is exactly the late-payment pressure their smaller suppliers feel. For small-business late-payment figures, see our UK Late-Payment Index.
What can I do if my customers are in a slow-paying sector?
You can chase under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act (statutory interest at Bank of England base plus 8%), tighten your terms, or bridge the gap with invoice finance, which advances most of each invoice within days instead of waiting. Whether that is worth the cost depends on your margin and how stable the gap is; an adviser can review your ledger before anything is binding.
Related: UK Late-Payment Index, UK Late Payment Statistics 2026, and the UK Invoice Finance Market Activity tracker, and the Fair Payment Code signatory benchmark, which joins this same statutory data to the FPC awardees register. If slow-paying customers are squeezing your cash flow, the factoring vs overdraft vs loan comparator shows whether bridging the gap with invoice finance actually stacks up.
Founder & Managing Director, Muswell Rose, founder and PSC of Best Business Loans Ltd
Adam was managing director of Penny, a UK invoice finance business, from July 2020 to November 2023. His career runs through insurance, mortgages, commercial finance and fintech lending. He writes the Market Invoice library. Career record.
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