There are time limits by which the responsible person must receive and pay all invoices for your campaign spending.1
Receiving invoices from suppliers
You must obtain all your invoices for your campaign spending from suppliers within 30 days of the election - 5 August 2024 (6 August in Scotland).
If this date falls on a weekend, Bank Holiday or other public holiday it is moved to the next working day.
Invoices received after this deadline are called unpaid claims for the purposes of reporting. You must record unpaid claims in your spending return.
You must not pay unpaid claims unless there is a court order enabling you to do so. This is called leave to pay and may be obtained by you or the supplier applying to the relevant court in advance of payment.
Paying invoices from suppliers
You must pay all your invoices from suppliers within 60 days of the election - 2 September 2024.
If this date falls on a weekend, Bank Holiday or other public holiday it is moved to the next working day.
Invoices received in time but remaining unpaid after this deadline are called disputed claims.2
You must record disputed claims in your spending return.
You must not pay disputed claims unless there is a court judgment or order enabling you to do so. This is called leave to pay and may be obtained by you applying to the relevant court in advance of payment. Suppliers may also apply to the relevant court to obtain a court judgement or order for payment.
Enforcement
Final decisions on prosecution for receiving and paying late invoices are made by the relevant public prosecutor (the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales, the Crown Office/Procurator Fiscal in Scotland, and the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland).
We may issue a civil sanction for a breach of these rules.
However, we will not usually consider taking enforcement action to be proportionate where the delay or amounts are small.