Doing business with Camden
The Council has a paperless Purchase to Pay system which enables the full purchasing and payment process to be carried out on-line from order creation and authorisation to receipting and invoice matching.
Purchase orders and invoices
Camden has a no purchase order no payment policy. It is a requirement that suppliers commit to the following:
- To provide good and/or services only when in receipt of a valid Purchase Order (PO) generated from the Council’s ordering system
- To quote the valid 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 AIP@camden.gov.uk
- 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.
If you have the PO number only and want to check that an order is genuine, check on supplier portal or please contact the purchase to pay team.
Invoicing
To help us to pay your invoice on time all invoices must be sent to the 'invoice to' address on the purchase order.
Please do not send the invoice to the person ordering from you: they will not be able to pay it.
For more information, visit Camden's new e-invoicing service web page.
What to include on your invoice
All supplier invoices must contain the following information:
- Addressed to London Borough of Camden (not an individual)
- Camden’s purchase order number
- Purchase order item number (if available)
- Supplier's name and address
- The word 'invoice' or if a credit, credit note'
- Invoice number
- Invoice date
- Value and currency
- Description of goods and/or services provided - sufficient detail for the buyer to recognise
- Name and telephone number of your Camden buyer/contact
- Any further unique reference numbers or information that Camden provided
- Buyer / contact name
- Supplier’s VAT number (if registered)
- Net value of goods and services, the rate and amount of VAT (preferably detailed at line level)
- Total value of the invoice
Non-compliant invoices will be returned unpaid
Invoices with handwritten purchase order numbers will be returned, as they indicate that the correct procurement process has not been followed.
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 Supplier Portal and letter headed paper attached.
If you don’t use supplier portal, then changes to your bank account or other supplier details please write to us on letter headed paper or email the purchase to pay address.
Please note that 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.