Terms and conditions
The terms and conditions of the contract you have signed up to is 30-day payment terms. This is from a correct invoice being submitted. There are no exceptions to these terms.
Registered supplier details
It is essential that your current supplier contact, company and payment details are registered with Cambridgeshire County Council Passenger Transport Team before any invoices are submitted. All payments are processed using our online finance system and can only be issued to registered suppliers.
If you are a new supplier of transport to Cambridgeshire County Council, please ensure that you have completed and returned a Passenger Transport Provider Accounts Payable Supplier registration form.
If you need to amend your supplier contact details, VAT status or bank details please email us. Provide documents to support the change in the form of a letter showing your new company details and/or VAT number. If you are changing your bank details, you will need to send a bank statement or paying in slip (no less than 3 months old) showing the new details.
Invoice process
Your invoice is required to include the following information. If your invoice does not include the following then it will be rejected as a non-compliant invoice. This will delay your payments.
Please note that the 30 days terms are on receipt of a compliant invoice.
- Your company name and address
- Addressed to “Cambridgeshire County Council, Passenger Transport Team, New Shire Hall, Cambridgeshire PE28 4YE”
- Company number (if Ltd company)
- VAT Reg No (If VAT is included)
- Date of invoice
- Invoice Number (unique)
- Description – must include the transport route number, £ net daily rate, the number of days that are charged for the transport route and the calendar month and year that the transport route was provided. If you have extra costs these should be included in the invoice as well as the details of the Transport Officer who approved the extra costs.
- Contact and bank account details
Invoices must cover one calendar month and be submitted at the end of the month that transport services were provided. Invoices are routinely processed on a 30-day payment term from the date of receipt, except during Christmas and Easter holidays when Cambridgeshire County Council payment procedures are disrupted by bank holiday closures. Advance notice of the Christmas and Easter payment schedules will be made available to contracted suppliers of Education Passenger Transport routes.
Please submit invoices for Education transport routes at each month end to SETT.finance@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
Invoices for Social Care transport routes should be submitted at each month end to SSDTransport.Requests@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
Rejected invoices, disputes, queries and discrepancies
If your invoice is found to be non-compliant it cannot be processed and you will be issued with an emailed rejection notice. The invoice will not proceed further in the payments process until a revised compliant invoice is submitted to either SETT.finance@cambridgeshire.gov.uk if it is an education route, or SSDTransport.Requests@cambridgeshire.gov.uk if it is a Social Care route. 30 days payment terms will not commence until the compliant invoice is received.
If your compliant invoice cannot be reconciled precisely with Education Passenger Transport route contract records, the discrepancy will be recorded, and the invoice will be placed on hold in dispute. You will receive notification of the dispute by email from the Education Transport Team who will work with you to try to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. We aim to resolve invoice disputes within 10 working days. Please note that if your invoice needs to be amended and resubmitted, then the payment terms are 30 days from the date that the amended, compliant invoice is received in either the SETT.finance@cambridgeshire.gov.uk mailbox or SSDTransport.Requests@cambridgeshire.gov.uk mailbox.
Invoicing crib sheet
Recommendations to avoid your invoices going into query:
- Check school term dates. Day queries are the highest volume of queries we receive. You can check these on the school’s websites (the link to these is on all route specifications).
- Send one invoice for each route you carry out. This might seem odd, but this is easier and more efficient. If there is a query on an invoice with multiple contracts, it holds payment for all routes.
- VAT and non-VAT route in separate invoices. This should help avoid any inputting errors.
- Use accounting software or Excel. These types of systems add up for you and avoid errors in calculations.
