Payment Delays – Freedom of Information Request

Payment delays are a significant concern for providers. In our recent sector survey 43% of providers responding rated payment delays as having a high or significant impact on their ability to deliver care effectively.  This was not all related to local authority payments but does make it one of the top four issues for providers. As a result, this remains a priority area for Norfolk Care Association.

Under regulation 113 Public Contracts Legislation 2015 Norfolk County Council is required to pay undisputed invoices within 30 days. In 2024/25 overall, Norfolk County Council did this in 98.7% of cases. Under the act, Norfolk County Council was liable to pay £257K to providers for breaching the regulations. None of this interest was paid out. Norfolk County Council publishes this data here: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/article/39418/Payments-to-suppliers.

In September 2024 we asked Norfolk County Council for data on payment delays to social care providers. After repeatedly following this up without success, we submitted a freedom of information request in July 2025. The data and response can be seen below. Norfolk County Council also apologised for not responding to our original request.

The Freedom of Information request revealed that for Home Care and Day Services, 99.7% of invoices were paid in thirty days. Whilst not meeting the legal requirement of all invoices to be paid within thirty days, this does not suggest a significant issue.

Rejected invoices for Home Care and Day Services are around 5%. Our view is that this seems high, under the assumption that providers are invoicing after a contract and an agreed package of care are in place. We asked Norfolk County Council to provide more detail on the reasons for rejection and the steps being taken to reduce this. They said:

“The main reason for rejecting invoices is where providers are not invoicing to contract. The home care contract includes a 20% tolerance so that if a care provider delivers up to 20% more than the commissioned care for a client for a period, their invoice will be paid. If an invoice is above this tolerance, the invoice will be rejected within the portal, with a note providing guidance of the steps required to get the invoice paid.

To reduce the number of invoices being rejected, we issue care providers with a provider portal handbook detailing how to invoice NCC. We give training to all new care providers and provide regular refresher training to existing providers. There are also online training videos for providers to use and system functionality that highlights to a provider if their invoice is over-tolerance before they submit it.”

The data also shows us that invoice rejection rates have fallen from 10% which is a sign of positive progress.

The Freedom of Information response highlights that for Nursing, Residential and Supported Living, a scheduled payment process is used and therefore invoice data is not available. We followed up with Norfolk County Council on delays with this process, and their response indicated that for a scheduled payment there wouldn’t be a delay once the Care Package Line Item (CPLI) is authorised and activated. A finance report is run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to pick up all new CPLIs authorised or activated, and payments are then added to the following day’s payment run.

We would expect this scheduled process to be robust. However, the explanation of this process, together with the other Freedom of Information data is at odds with the level of provider sentiment that payment delays are a significant issue. We suspect that rather than this strictly being a problem with payment delays, it is to do with the time taken for a CPLI to be properly added and authorised on the system.

We are continuing to explore this issue with Norfolk County Council as well as seeking clarity on a number of items connected with how invoices are processed.

We need your help – if you are experiencing (or have experienced) payments delays, please get in touch and share specific examples. This will allow us to understand exactly where the system is not working and identify solutions that better help providers and the people we support.

Contact us via email to: info@norfolkcareassociation.org.uk or call us on 01603 972517

“Freedom of Information Request IG-19643504

I refer to your request for information dated 30 July 2025. You asked for:

The data outlined below for invoices and payments to Adult Social care providers as a total and broken down by the following sub-sectors; 1) Nursing and residential, 2) Day services, 3) Domiciliary care, 4) Supported living, 5) learning disability, Autism, mental health and physical disabilities.

For the years 2024/25 and 2025/26 to date please provide monthly figures.

For the years 2023/24 and 2022/23 please provide annual figures.

Data to provide:

• Number of invoices received

• Sum of total invoices received in pounds
• Number of undisputed invoices received
• Sum of undisputed invoices received in pounds
• Min, max, mean and median working days to validate an invoice – validate should be taken to mean the number of days taken to process, identify any issues and if necessary resolve those issues
• Number of invoices paid within 30 days
• Sum of total invoices paid within 30 days in pounds

Our response:

The County Council has different processes for paying for care depending on the service provided. For Residential, Nursing and Supported Living, payments are made via a schedule process, therefore not requiring the provision of an invoice to generate payment. As such, NCC does not hold details of invoice disputes or times taken to pay via this process, in response to this FOI request. We have included the values of payments made for the periods requested.

For Community based services such as home care and day care we have included the information requested. Please note we do not record the value (£) of initially rejected invoices as they are rejected before values are recorded.

If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your request you have the right of appeal through the Council’s internal review procedure by setting out the grounds of your appeal in writing to: foi@norfolk.gov.uk

Or

Information Compliance Team, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2DH

An appeal should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this notice and should be identified as “FOI Appeal”.

If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the appeal procedure, you may apply to the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Act for a decision whether your request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of Part I of the Act. Refer to the ICO Website at: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for advice on how to report a concern. Or you can write to them at:

First Contact Team

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane, Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Saskia Walsh, Information Compliance Officer

Information Governance
Team Tel: 01603 222661

5th Floor, County Hall”