NEC4 clause 51.1 & 51.2 late payment

NEC3 and NEC4 Contracts Payment
1

The assessment day of an NEC4 short contract is the 1st of each month

Clause 51.1 has a Z clause stating that ‘‘The Client pays within 25 days after the next assessment day
which follows receipt of an application for payment by the contractor’’

Can you confirm if this means that if assessment nr 1 is submitted on the 1st February is it then due for payment on the 26th of February or is it the 26th of March?

My reading of this Z clause is that payment on this contract is essentially now 53-56 days (depending on which month it is) after the assessment date as opposed to the 21 days in the standard NEC4 short contract

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2

Darren, the way this is drafted means that if the application is submitted on the assessment day (1st of each month) then indeed the final date for payment will be after 53 - 56 days as you say.

Therefore, each application should be submitted before the assessment day (e.g. by the end of each month) in order for the final date for payment to be on the 26th of the next.

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