Code Criteria

The Fair Payment Code has a tiered system of Awards which is aimed at awarding best practice and driving improvements in payment performance. The three Award tiers businesses can apply for are:

• Gold Award – To pay at least 95% of all invoices within 30 days.
• Silver Award – To pay at least 95% of all invoices within 60 days, including at least 95% of invoices to small businesses (with fewer than 50 employees) within 30 days.
• Bronze Award – To pay at least 95% of all invoices within 60 days.

In addition, every applicant to the Code agrees to abide by the Code’s principles of being Clear, Fair and Collaborative with their suppliers.

Businesses can apply for any level of Award so long as they can provide evidence that they meet the Award criteria. Where applicants do not meet the criteria, they will automatically be considered for a lower category should they meet those criteria, or alternatively can be provided with an action plan to support them to attain their desired level.

The Fair Payment Code Awards are for two years, and every business will need to reapply for their Award at the end of each two-year period. Applications are open from September-December each year and are awarded for the following two calendar years.

Applications outside of the Sept-Dec application window are permitted, but Award length may shorten and only be awarded for a maximum of two calendar years, including the year of application. The Awards and logos will be dated to indicate when they achieved their Award status and colour coded to indicate Award level. Guidelines on use of the Awards logo will be provided once Awards have been made.