Payment dates calculator
Work out when a payment falls due, the deadlines for payment and pay less notices, and the final date for payment under the Construction Act in England and Wales. Use the Scheme’s dates if your contract has no compliant payment terms, or enter the dates your contract sets.
A guide, not legal advice. These dates follow the Act and the Scheme for contracts made on or after 1 October 2011. Your contract may set different dates or count days differently, and the facts of your case matter. Check your contract and take advice before relying on a date.
How days are counted
Periods start the day after. Section 116(2) of the Act says that a period after or from a date begins immediately after that date. So 7 days after Monday 30 November 2026 is Monday 7 December 2026.
Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays are left out. Section 116(3) leaves out Christmas Day, Good Friday and any bank holiday in England and Wales. Weekends still count, and a deadline is not moved if it lands on a Saturday or Sunday.
Why there is a switch. Section 116 applies to periods “for the purposes of” Part II of the Act. The Scheme is made under Part II and its terms take effect as implied terms of your contract (s.114(4)), so it is generally treated as following the same rule, and the calculator leaves those days out by default. The point is not entirely free from doubt. Where your contract sets the dates, its own wording on counting days comes first: many standard forms copy the section 116 rule, and others count every calendar day. Untick the box to count every day. Where the two methods give different dates we show both, and if in doubt the safe course is to work to the earlier one.
Payee’s notice. Where the final date is postponed under section 110B(3), we count the days the payee’s notice came after the payer’s deadline, and the postponement, the same way as every other period.
Bank holiday dates come from gov.uk and cover 2019 to 2028. Outside those years only Christmas Day and Good Friday are left out, and the calculator warns you.
The rules behind each date
References are to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (HGCRA), Part II, as amended by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, and to Part II of the Schedule to the Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998, as amended in 2011.
- Payment due date: interim payments
- The later of 7 days after the end of the relevant period and the date the payee makes its interim application for payment (its “claim” under the Scheme). Scheme Part II para 4. The relevant period is the one your contract sets, or 28 days if it sets none (para 12).
- Payment due date: final payment
- The later of 30 days after completion of the work and the date of the application for payment. Scheme Part II para 5.
- Payment due date: work lasting under 45 days
- Where the contract says the work will last less than 45 days there is no right to stage payments (HGCRA s.109). The contract price is due on the later of 30 days after completion and the date of the application for payment. Scheme Part II para 6.
- Payment due date: any other payment
- The later of 7 days after completion of the work the payment relates to and the date of the application for payment. Scheme Part II para 7.
- Payment notice
- Not later than 5 days after the due date, the payer (or a person named in the contract) must give a notice of the sum it considers due and how it is calculated. The sum can be zero. HGCRA s.110A(1) and Scheme Part II para 9.
- Final date for payment
- Every construction contract must have one (HGCRA s.110(1)(b)). Under the Scheme it is 17 days after the due date. Scheme Part II para 8(2).
- Pay less notice
- A payer who intends to pay less than the notified sum must say so, with the sum it considers due and how it is calculated, not later than the prescribed period before the final date. That period is whatever the parties agreed, or 7 days under the Scheme. HGCRA s.111(3), (4), (5) and (7) and Scheme Part II para 10.
- Payee’s notice if the payer gives none
- The payee may give its own notice at any time after the payer’s deadline. The final date for payment is then postponed by the number of days the notice came after that deadline. An earlier application that stated the sum and how it was calculated may already count as this notice, if the contract allowed it. HGCRA s.110B(2), (3) and (4).
- Paying the notified sum
- The payer must pay the notified sum, less any amount in a valid pay less notice, by the final date. If it does not, the payee may suspend some or all of its work after giving at least 7 days’ notice. HGCRA s.111(1) and s.112.
- Counting days
- Periods begin the day after the starting date, and Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays are left out. HGCRA s.116.
Before you rely on these dates
- The Scheme’s payment rules only fill gaps. They apply where your contract has no compliant terms on the point (s.110(3), s.110A(5)).
- The calculator uses the rules for contracts made on or after 1 October 2011. Older contracts follow the earlier version of the Act.
- It covers England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.
- Part II of the Act does not apply to contracts with a residential occupier (s.106), or to some kinds of work (s.105(2)).
- Check what your contract says about how notices must be given and when they count as received.
Need help with a payment dispute or adjudication?
Mill Court Consultants advise contractors and subcontractors on payment notices, pay less notices, claims and adjudication, in offshore wind, power, infrastructure and building.