Published reports

VODAFONE LIMITED

Company number: 01471587

This information is as reported by the business, and responses are in their own words.

Reporting period:

1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025

Report filed on:

30 October 2025

Approved by:

Darren Purkis

Contracts and payments

Do any of this business's construction contracts with its suppliers include retention clauses? Yes

Payment statistics

Average time taken to pay invoices: 62 days

Total value paid:

within 30 days: £2,843,926,514 (34%)
in 31 to 60 days: £3,182,117,635 (38%)
in 61 days or more: £2,378,500,503 (28%)

Invoices paid:

within 30 days: 27%
in 31 to 60 days: 36%
in 61 days or more: 37%

Late and disputed:

total value of payments due in the reporting period which have not been paid within the agreed period: £384,947,072
payments due in the reporting period which have not been paid within the agreed period: 2%

Payment terms

Shortest standard payment periods

30 days

Longest standard payment period

115 days

Standard payment terms

The percentages provided in the payment statistics above include payments made to Vodafone Group entities providing goods or services to Vodafone Limited. Vodafone intercompany payment terms include many transactions with payment terms up to 115 days. These payments are included in our reported statistics as required and this therefore impacts the payment statistics. If intercompany payments are excluded from the statistics, they are as follows: Average time to pay in days – 45 days Split of payments made under qualifying contracts in the reporting period: A) Percentage of invoices paid between day 1 and day 30 (inclusive) – 39 % B) Percentage of invoices paid between day 31 and day 60 (inclusive) – 56 % C) Percentage of invoices paid on or after day 61 – 5% The total value of these is: • Within 30 days: £1,655,197,627 (63%) • in 31 to 60 days: £702,111,294 (26%) • in 61 days or more: £287,628,893 (11%) Payments due in the reporting period which have not been paid within the agreed period – 3 % Total value of payments due in the reporting period which have not been paid within the agreed period = £ 84,817,201 Our standard payment terms are as follows: General procurement agreements: For external suppliers Vodafone Limited’s standard payment terms are 60 days from the date of receipt of invoice, or where a supplier is classed as a small supplier, in accordance with the UK Companies Act, 30 days from the date of receipt of invoice. Where the relevant agreement relates to the provisions of goods or services for supply to public sector customers, Vodafone Limited’s standard payment terms are 30 days from date of receipt of invoice. For procurement from other Vodafone Group companies Vodafone Limited’s payment terms are up to 115 days. Longer or shorter payment terms may be agreed as part of a wider commercial negotiation of the relevant agreement. Any deviation from standard terms will take into account, amongst other things, (i) the type of goods or services provided and undertaken, (ii) the size of the supplier and its wider corporate group, (iii) the supplier’s relationship with the wider Vodafone Group and (iv) any other relevant commercial factors. Carrier services agreements: Vodafone Limited operates netting arrangements with certain other telecommunications providers in relation to reciprocal roaming and inter-connect agreements.  These arrangements are standard in the telecommunications industry.  Invoices that are set-off in full against reciprocal invoices from Vodafone Limited to other parties are not included in the payment statistics as no payment is made.  Outside of these netting arrangements Vodafone Limited’s standard payment terms for these types of agreements are as set out above for general procurement. For sponsorship and utilities agreements there are no standard payment terms as all contracts are agreed on a case by case basis. For Retail Franchise and Consumer (CBU) Indirect channel partners, commission is calculated monthly and is paid one month in arrears at the end of the following month. For Enterprise (EBU) Indirect Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Partners (also known as Vodafone Partner Services) commission is calculated monthly and is paid on the first Tuesday or Friday (whichever comes first) in the second month following. For Aggregator Partners, revenue payments for ‘charge to bill’ services are calculated at the end of the month following the month in which the service user's transaction occurred and are paid in arrear at the end of the calculation month. Further revenue payments to Aggregator Partners, for 'charge to bill' transactions where the service user has paid Vodafone late, are paid at the end of the 6th month following the transaction.

Were there any changes to the standard payment terms in the reporting period?

Were suppliers notified or consulted about these changes before they were made?

N/A

Maximum contractual payment period agreed

186 days

Vodafone Limited’s maximum contractual payment period in the reporting period arose under agreements entered into with two very large multinational suppliers. Invoices are paid on 155 days from the end of the month after the receipt of the invoice, which could therefore be a payment term of between 155-186 days from receipt of the invoice, depending on when the invoice is received.

Any other information about payment terms

Vodafone Limited were signatories to the Prompt Payment Code until Dec 24 when it was withdrawn but remain committed to adhering to fair payment principles and have submitted an expression of interest to join its replacement, the Fair Payment Code. The majority of our invoices are received via eInvoicing which also improves our ability to pay them on time. Vodafone Limited continue to ensure that suppliers identified as small in accordance with the Companies Act, are changed to payment terms of 30 days from receipt of invoice where previous longer terms applied.

Retention clauses

How does this business use retention clauses?

Retention clauses are used in specific circumstances:

Timescales of releasing the retention sums are dependent on the timeframe of the handover versus the period remaining in the financial year.

Does this business only use retention clauses in construction contracts above a specific contract sum?

Does this business use a standard percentage rate in retention clauses?

Yes: 5%

Does this business apply retention clause practices that are no more onerous than those applied to it on the same project?

Yes:

Vodafone is the client and does not have any contractual obligations imposed on it for the delivery of construction works.

Releasing money under a retention clause

Process for releasing money this business has deducted or retained under a retention clause

5% retention is held from all payments due to be paid during the project until Practical Completion (PC), and then half is released at PC. The remaining 2.5% retention is held from Practical Completion on all works until the end of the relevant financial year in which they were retained.

Is the money released in stages?

Yes:

Amount retained from suppliers in the reporting period

Amount retained stated as a percentage of the money retained from this business by its clients

Amount retained stated as a percentage of the total construction payments made by this business

Dispute resolution process

Any disputes on individual invoices should be raised to the Vodafone Limited Accounts Payable team via our Supplier Digital Portal (http://supplier.ariba.com/) who will work with the supplier to resolve the issue. The supplier will generally receive a response the next day but we aim to respond to all queries within 5 working days. Any contractual disputes are managed through our Commercial Contract Management Process involving the supplier, Supply Chain Management and Legal. Suppliers should contact Supply Chain Management or the applicable Vodafone Commercial Manager in such cases. Vodafone Limited does not currently have a process which records the percentage of payments not made within the payment period as a result of a dispute. As we are unable to accurately report our position, we have entered 0% whilst we work towards correcting this for future submissions.

Other payment information

Has this business signed up to a code of conduct or standards on payment practices? If so, which?

For example, signatories to The Fair Payment Code must commit to paying 95% of their invoices within 60 days.

No, this business has not signed up to a code of conduct or standards on payment practices.

Does this business offer e-invoicing in relation to qualifying contracts?

This is where suppliers can electronically submit and track invoices. It's not just allowing suppliers to email them an invoice.

Yes

Does this business offer supply chain finance?

This is where a supplier who has submitted an invoice can be paid by a third-party finance provider earlier than the agreed payment date. The business would then pay the finance provider the invoiced sum.

Yes

Under its payment practices and policies, can this business deduct sums from payments under qualifying contracts as a charge for remaining on a supplier list?

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