Invoice Clock
Pay on time, and prove it.
Invoice Clock starts the 30-day clock when an invoice lands in any council inbox, not when accounts payable gets round to it. It chases approvals in Teams before day 30, and hands your section 151 officer a payments compliance notice they can sign with the evidence behind it.
Sits alongside your finance system. Nothing to replace or migrate.
What the law now asks of councils
Under the Procurement Act 2023, councils must pay invoices on public contracts within 30 days, and publish how well they did. A payments compliance notice every six months gives the share of invoices paid within 30 days, the average days taken, and the split across 1 to 30, 31 to 60 and 61 days or more. Each quarter, every payment over £30,000 is reported too.
The notice goes out under a named officer. In a council that is the finance director or section 151 officer, which makes the figure a personal statement as well as a corporate one.
Why the honest figure is hard to produce
None of this is difficult to calculate. It is difficult to calculate correctly, because the date that matters is not the date the finance system holds.
The clock starts at receipt
The Act counts from the day the invoice is received. Most finance systems hold the day accounts payable registered it, and plenty of invoices sit in a service inbox for days first.
Scope is a manual join
Which payments count depends on the contract: Procurement Act or PCR 2015, above or below threshold, Welsh-regulated or not. That lives in the contract register, not the ledger.
Officers carry the burden
Each notice becomes a reconciliation exercise in spreadsheets. Some councils have taken on extra officers just to produce it.
The figures are public
There is no direct fine, but suppliers compare authorities, and the Procurement Compliance Service can investigate and publish its findings.
Published figures can look better than reality
Thirty days from the invoice being received, in whichever council inbox it lands.
The day accounts payable registered it. Any tool that reports from finance-system dates inherits that gap, however good its reports are.
Invoice Clock fixes the date at the point the invoice arrives, so the figure your finance director signs is the true one.
From inbox to signed notice in four steps
- 1
Invoice lands
In any council inbox: accounts payable, or a service team. The receipt date is stamped on arrival. Paper invoices go in through a short Teams form.
- 2
Nightly match
A read-only export from your finance system is matched to the receipt register each night, and corrects the invoice date where the two disagree.
- 3
Teams prompts
On day 10 and day 20, the approving manager gets an approve or dispute card in Teams, so problems surface while there is still time to pay.
- 4
Period close
The UK17 figures, a methodology note and an evidence file go to the finance director for approval in Teams. The section 70 return follows each quarter.
Six parts, one layer
Built on what councils already run: Microsoft 365 or Gmail inboxes, Teams, and the export your finance system already produces.
- 01
Inbox receipt capture
Accounts payable and service mailboxes, plus a Teams form for paper.
- 02
Finance export match
A nightly read-only export, matched to the receipt register.
- 03
Scope tagging
Procurement Act or PCR 2015, threshold, Welsh-regulated or reserved.
- 04
Approve or dispute in Teams
Cards to the approving manager on day 10 and day 20.
- 05
On-time dashboard
Monthly on-time figures, average days and breach alerts.
- 06
Period-close outputs
UK17 and section 70 outputs, routed to the finance director to sign.
A true figure, ready to sign
True receipt dates
The 30-day clock starts when the invoice lands in any council inbox, as the Act requires.
A UK17 notice to sign
Figures, a methodology note and an evidence pack, routed to the finance director in Teams.
No section 70 scramble
Quarterly payments over £30,000, exported in the Central Digital Platform format.
Act before day 30
Prompts on day 10 and day 20 clear approvals and log disputes while there is still time.
No system to replace
A read-only export in, reports out. Your finance system stays exactly as it is.
A fast, low-cost start
A fixed-fee readiness sprint, then a modest monthly fee per authority.
Others report the figure. Invoice Clock fixes the date.
A working version in 14 days
- Days1 to 4
The calculation spec and test cases from Cabinet Office and Welsh Government guidance. Mailbox receipt capture.
- Days5 to 8
Finance export import and matching. Scope tagging from the contract register, with the Wales flag.
- Days9 to 12
Approve and dispute cards in Teams. The UK17 output, finance director approval and the section 70 spreadsheet.
- Days13 to 14
Six months of realistic test data run end to end, fixes, and a walk-through for your team.
Start with a fixed-fee readiness sprint
Indicative pricing. We confirm a fixed quote for your authority after a first call.
Why Flomation
A Welsh company
Based in Wrexham, building for the councils around us, with the Welsh duties understood from the start.
Cyber Essentials Plus
Certified under Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus, with Plus independently assessed.
On the GCA Automation Marketplace
A supplier on the Government Commercial Agency Automation Marketplace (RM6173), so councils can buy through an existing route.
Your data stays put
Runs in our UK cloud or on your own infrastructure. The finance export is read-only.
Questions councils ask
Do we need to replace our finance system?
No. Invoice Clock reads a nightly export your finance system already produces, and never writes back to it. Approvals happen in Teams and the reports come out the other side.
Does it handle procurements regulated by Welsh Ministers?
Yes. Every payment is tagged as Welsh-regulated or not from the contract register, so the Welsh notice and the rest of the authority can be reported separately.
Who signs the payments compliance notice?
Your finance director or section 151 officer, as now. Invoice Clock routes the figures, the methodology note and the evidence to them in Teams, and records the approval.
Which inboxes does it work with?
Microsoft 365 and Gmail mailboxes, for accounts payable and for any service team that receives invoices. Paper invoices are logged through a short Teams form.
How quickly can we be ready?
The readiness sprint produces a working version in 14 days, tested against six months of realistic data, in good time for the April 2027 notice.
Fifteen minutes, after this notice round
Tell us what was painful about producing the last notice. We will tell you honestly whether Invoice Clock would have made it easier, and what a readiness sprint would look like for your authority.
- A person reads it and replies, usually within a working day.
- No mailing list, and no sequence of follow-up emails.
- If something else would serve you better, we will say so.