There are time limits by which the responsible person must receive and pay all invoices for your campaign spending.
Receiving invoices from suppliers
You must obtain all your invoices for your campaign spending from suppliers within 30 days of the election.1
As this deadline falls on a weekend it is moved to the next working day.2
The last day for receiving invoices from your suppliers is Monday 8 June 2026.
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.3
Paying invoices from suppliers
You must pay all your invoices from suppliers within 60 days of the election.4
The last day for paying invoices is Monday 6 July 2026.
Invoices received in time but remaining unpaid after this deadline are called disputed claims. 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.5
Enforcement
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.
Final decisions on prosecution for receiving and paying late invoices are made by the Crown Prosecution Service.