Our No PO No Payment policy

Our No PO No Payment policy requires all invoices submitted by suppliers/contractors to contain a valid PO number. Purchase orders are generated by either our finance system or other relevant systems, such as our housing management system. These are submitted to suppliers/contractors prior to delivery or receipt of goods, services or works.

All Valid PO numbers for us are in either of the following formats:

• The format ABC-NNN where ‘ABC’ are letters and ‘N’ is a number.
• The format 9NNNNNN where ‘N’ is a number.

Please note that any reference number you receive that starts with ‘RFQ’ is not a valid PO number.

Please also see the emergency ordering procedure below.

You should only accept an order when a valid PO is provided. If you receive an order from a member of our team without a valid PO number, you should ask them to provide one before proceeding.

We recognise that cash flow is important to businesses. Invoices received with a valid PO number will be paid in line with our agreed contract terms. Our standard payment term is 30 days from the date of the invoice. Invoices received without a valid PO number quoted are likely to be subject to a delay in payment and may be returned to the supplier/contractor unpaid.

Invoices should be sent directly to payments@havebury.com and must quote a valid PO number. Compliant invoices will then automatically be matched to the order, and once the goods or services are confirmed as received, the payment will be made to the supplier. Invoices that are not sent directly to payments@havebury.com may be subject to delays in payment. Invoices that do not quote a valid PO number will not be paid and will be returned to the supplier for correction.

No. To be paid, all invoices received after 1 April 2023 must quote a valid PO number. We have a very short list of agreed exceptions to the No PO No Payment policy. Our team are aware of these agreed exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Suppliers should assume they are not part of this agreed exception list unless contacted by our Payments team to confirm inclusion. It is the supplier’s responsibility to ensure they request a valid PO number before accepting any order for goods and services to be supplied to us.

Please ensure that you do not accept any verbal or written order from our team unless a valid PO number is given or there is a valid use of the emergency ordering procedure below.

In exceptional circumstances, a retrospective emergency order can be issued. These would only be for health & safety emergency situations. For example, to mitigate flooding etc.

The email address to send your invoice for payment is payments@havebury.com. All invoices must be addressed to: The Payments Team, The Havebury Housing Partnership, Havebury House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 3SP. Under no circumstances should invoices be addressed or sent to another member of our team. If suppliers quote a named individual on an invoice, they will be requested to amend the supplier details on their system to refer to the above details.

You should contact the team member who gave the original instruction to supply the goods, services or works and ask them to provide a valid PO number. When obtained, you should send a replacement invoice, quoting the valid PO number to the email address above. For future transactions, please make sure that a purchase order is requested and obtained at the point of accepting the order for the goods or services.

Invoices may be disputed for several valid reasons. This may include, but is not limited to:

• The PO number quoted does not match the issued PO.
• The PO number quoted on the invoice is closed or complete.
• Invoice quantities, descriptions, dates, or pricing do not match those on the quoted PO number.

If your invoice has been delayed beyond the expected payment terms agreed, please get in touch with the member of the team you agreed the PO with and request the delay is investigated and a response is provided to you.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with our Payments team via payments@havebury.com. 

Please ensure that any members of your team who receive orders to supply goods, services or works to us are aware of our No PO No Payment policy and insist on being supplied with an official PO number.

Yes – this webpage will be kept updated.

Some individuals who have received payments/grants from us in the past may have been recognised in our accounting system as suppliers. If you have received notification of the No PO No Payment policy and do not provide us with goods and services, please disregard this notification, and we apologise for any inconvenience.