Camden's Accounts Payable Policy

The Council has a paperless Purchase to Pay system which enables the full purchasing and payment process to be carried out online. This includes everything from order creation and authorisation to receipting and invoice matching.

No PO, No Payment

Camden Council operates a ‘No Purchase Order, No Payment’ Policy.

This means that Camden Council won’t pay you unless you quote a valid Camden Council Purchase Order number on your invoice. 

Failure to do so will result in your invoices not being paid. As part of the process Camden Council will reject the invoice back to you and request you issue a new invoice quoting the correct payment details.

Who the policy covers

The policy covers all Camden Council suppliers unless they form part of any agreed exceptions arrangements. 

Invoices

To make sure your invoice is processed correctly, you need to make sure it clearly displays the word ‘invoice’.

It should also include:

• invoice number (or unique identification number)
• correct Camden Council Purchase order number
• your company name, address, VAT registration Number
• contact details for queries
• Camden Council’s name and full address  
• a clear description of what goods or service was provided, matching the relating purchase order
• date the invoice was created (invoice date)
• the amount being charged 
• VAT amount, if applicable
• total amount owed

You also need to make sure your invoice:

• only contains items that are on your purchase order. Any additional items will need a new purchase order number and will result in the invoice being rejected.
• has the correct supplier details that match the ones on your purchase order
• has the contact name and details of the person in Camden who ordered the goods or services 

Send your invoices by email to [email protected] 

Your invoice format should be sent by email and contain:

• your invoice in PDF format 
• only one invoice per attachment

If your invoice doesn’t meet these requirements, it won’t be processed and will be sent back to you.

Rejection Reasons

Reasons why we may reject your invoice are:

• no Purchase Order number has been quoted
• it was sent in the wrong format. We can only accept pdf. 
• invalid PO number (missing a digit)
• the invoice sent in exceeds the value of the PO that was originally sent to you, please be advised that we are unable to pay your invoice due to a lack of funds on your PO. This will result in the invoice being rejected back to you. You will have to contact the person who raised the PO request to take corrective action and then resubmit the invoice. 
• Camden Council have not goods receipted the item. In this case the invoice will be placed on hold while the P2P team investigate the reason for the held invoice. 
• the purchase order number is closed, cancelled or invalid. 
• more than one purchase order number has been quoted on one invoice
• a credit note was sent in but doesn’t quote a related invoice number

Purchase orders and invoices

It is a requirement that suppliers commit to the following:

• to provide goods and/or services only when in receipt of a valid Purchase Order (PO) generated from the Council’s ordering system
• to quote the valid Camden Purchase Order number on all invoices or credit notes submitted to the Council. Invoices without a valid PO number will be returned to the Supplier.
• to submit all invoices and credit notes electronically through any reasonable means requested by the Council. This may include but is not limited to: connecting to the Council’s e-invoicing hub Supplier Portal to convert PO’s to Invoices, or PDF invoices via email at [email protected] 
• to provide credit notes for any goods returned or service not delivered.
• to use the Supplier Portal to find information on POs, receipts and payments
• to accept all payments by BACS
• where feasible, and in discussion with the Council, to provide electronic catalogues of goods/services provided. These catalogues can be used to simplify purchasing.
• to keep Camden informed and updated contact details. 

Method of payment

The Council pays all bills by BACS and new suppliers must supply their bank details.

Bank account or other supplier detail changes should be made via the Supplier Portal.

If you don’t use Supplier Portal, please write to us on letter headed paper or email the purchase to pay address.

We will not act on changes of details notified on invoices.

Payment Terms and Conditions

It is our policy that, unless we are contractually committed to other terms, all valid invoices will become due for payment 30 days after receipt.

As noted, where contractual clauses are agreed which vary the terms of payment, these will be honoured. Our terms of trade also include provision for late payment in accordance with the November 1998 Act of Parliament.

We reserve the right to withhold payment where the goods or services have not been provided in accordance with the contract. We expect our suppliers to pay any sums due to sub-contractors promptly and within a period not exceeding that set out above.

The Prompt Payment Code

We are an approved signatory of the Prompt Payment Code, a code of practice launched by the Department for Business Enterprise in 2008.