We are now over a year into the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23). Authorities are beginning to settle into the "new normal" and from 1 April 2026, we will finally see all transparency notices under the PA23 regime go live. Contract payment information is the final requirement to take effect and will require contracting authorities to publish quarterly information about certain payments made under Public Contracts (defined below) with the aim of improving visibility of public sector spending.
What Contracts are in-scope?
The obligation applies to "Public Contracts" (as defined in section 2 of PA23 and, in short, being contracts above the threshold in Schedule 1 of PA23 and not listed as an exempt contract in Schedule 2 of PA23) awarded under procurements commenced on or after 1 April 2026.
It is important to emphasise what this means in practice: the requirement is not triggered where the contract itself is entered into after 1 April 2026. The entire procurement procedure must have commenced on or after that date. Consequently, contracts already partway through a PA23 procurement process as of 1 April 2026 will not trigger the requirement.
Excluded from the regime are utilities contracts awarded by private utilities, concession contracts, contracts awarded by schools, and contracts awarded by transferred Northern Ireland authorities (subject to limited exceptions).
Framework agreements and dynamic markets are excluded (as no payment is expected to be paid under them), but contracts awarded under frameworks or dynamic markets established under the PA23 are within scope. Paragraph 16 of the government guidance on contract payment information provides that authorities may choose to publish payment information voluntarily for contracts outside the formal scope of the regime.
This requirement is separate from payments compliance notices under section 69 of PA23 and does not replace or modify existing spend publication obligations, including Central Government guidance on publishing spend over £25,000 or the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.
In practice, this means central government bodies face two different obligations focused on slightly different thresholds. Existing Central Government guidance requires publication of individual invoices, grant payments, expense payments or other such transactions over £25,000 (so not just payments under Public Contracts), whereas the new obligation in section 70 of PA23 focuses on payments under qualifying Public Contracts but with a higher threshold of £30,000.
The £30,000 Threshold
The obligation applies to individual payments with a value of £30,000 or more (inclusive of VAT) made under an in-scope Public Contract.
Payments are assessed individually, and there is no requirement to aggregate smaller payments under a single contract. However, where multiple invoices are combined into a single payment that exceeds £30,000 (including VAT), that payment must be reported.
What Information Must be Published?
Regulation 38A of the Procurement Regulations 2024 sets out the information to be published about contract payments. It states that contracting authorities must publish:
- their name and unique identifier;
- the unique identifier for the procurement and contract to which the payment relates;
- the name and unique identifier of the supplier to whom the payment is made;
- the payment value net of VAT; and
- the date of payment.
Authorities may publish information for multiple payments in a single notice, provided all required fields are included for each payment, allowing data to be grouped within a reporting period rather than issuing separate notices for each payment.
Authorities may also publish optional information, such as an internal payment identifier, which can assist with reconciliation processes and responding to Freedom of Information requests where appropriate.
Payment information will be published on the Central Digital Platform (CDP), with payments linked to specific Public Contracts in order to improve transparency and make reconciliation easier.
Reporting Periods, Deadlines and Publication
Reporting periods run quarterly, ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December.
The first publication is due by 29 July 2026, covering payments made between 1 April and 30 June 2026.
Redacting Supplier Information
As with all notices, information may be withheld from publication under section 94 of PA23 where justified by commercial sensitivity or national security, but this must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Where information is withheld, authorities must confirm that information has been withheld and provide reasons, unless doing so would itself be contrary to national security interests.
Authorities should also be mindful that publication of high-value payments may attract media, audit or political scrutiny, particularly for large milestone or mobilisation payments. For this reason, senior or director-level review prior to publication is recommended (although a suitably authorised person should always be responsible for signing off any notice published under PA23).
Conclusions
Responsibility for publishing payment information on time and in full rests with the contracting authority making the payment. Whilst breach of section 70 of PA23 is a technical breach which is unlikely to lead to a supplier challenging the payment or the Public Contract, the Procurement Review Unit could investigate non-compliance, issue recommendations and publish reports: with reputational repercussions.
With this in mind, ahead of the April 2026 go-live date, authorities should (with such reputational repercussions in mind), establish internal reporting workflows, train staff on this requirement and implement systems that can help track quarterly disclosures.
One of the most significant practical challenges is that many contracting authorities are unlikely to have payment systems capable of automatically identifying which payments relate to contracts caught by section 70 of PA23, meaning that over disclosure is inevitable. This may thus reduce the efficacy or impact of the policy intent behind such disclosure.
We imagine many contracting authorities will end up erring on the side of caution and disclosing any significant payment under a Public Contract so as to fall on the right side of the transparency regime. Where such an approach is taken, authorities will need to check the contractual confidentiality terms. Whilst it is common to have a carve out for legal requirements, a right to "over disclose" for the benefit of transparency is unlikely.
If you are interested in discussing this requirement further, please reach out.
