ODA enforces 18-day payment

Olympic bosses are trying to help contractors on the project stay afloat by enforcing a cut in the time it takes to pay undisputed bills from 30 days to 18 days.

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) hopes that the move, which was revealed earlier this month, will improve cashflow throughout the supply chain.

Companies are being encouraged to then pay their suppliers more quickly to pass the payment improvements on down through the supply chain, according to the Times.

ODA chief executive David Higgins told the paper: "What we don't need in this tough time is suppliers to contractors having problems because we are one of their major customers and we're delaying payment.

"This is an industry that has traditionally stretched out payments - 60 to 90 days is not unusual. Businesses depend on cash, so anything we can do to alleviate cashflow problems we should be doing."