McNicholas Construction Services, acquired by Kier Group in 2017, was suspended from the Prompt Payment Code in November 2019, alongside other Kier entities, after failing to meet key requirements around the payment of suppliers within a 60-day window.
This prompted Kier to remodel its finance and payment processes across the group and commit to the quicker payment of small suppliers.
Following the integration of these changes, the return of McNicholas Construction Services Ltd as a code signatory today (Thursday 17th December) marks the completion of Kier鈥檚 work to move all of its entities on to Prompt Payment Code eligibility status.
Kier Highways and Kier Integrated Services were readmitted earlier this year, in June and August respectively.
Interim small business commissioner Philip King said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely satisfying to see McNicholas Construction Services Ltd return as a signatory of the Prompt Payment Code. Over recent months I have worked closely with Kier to meet its ambition of overall business compliance with the code and it鈥檚 satisfying to see these efforts pay off on behalf of UK small businesses.
鈥淲ork that my staff and I continue to do, in order to make code membership the default payment standard for large businesses to adhere to in the UK, is borne out by the commitment we see from Kier today. We will continue to advocate for small business owners across the UK and work to ensure that large businesses maintain a clear cashflow to their small business supply chain.鈥�
Kier Group chief executive Andrew Davies said: 鈥淭his achievement is testament to the hard work of teams across the group. It shows our commitment to growing and maintaining relationships with our supply chain, many of whom are long-standing partners of Kier.
鈥淲e acknowledge, that this year it has been more important than ever to pay our suppliers in a timely manner. We will remain committed to further improvements in our payment practices, allowing us to continue working with the best supply chain partners.鈥�
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