Some Govt departments are preparing to pay bills in 10 days!

Well now, there may be some Christmas cheer for small suppliers to some government bodies; I’ve seen evidence that some government departments have written to suppliers in early December stating that their bills will be paid in 10 days if each supplier can confirm its small business status i.e. sales turnover under 5.6 million p.a., under 50 employees etc.In one instance, if the supplier does not respond by 19th december, it will be assumed the supplier does not fall into the small business category.
It’s a slight worry though that in these preparatory letters, government departments have talked about Gordon Brown’s pledge of paying bills within 10 days “where practicable”. I guess that means that if the money isn’t available to pay on the 10 day button, it won’t be paid, and that’s where my big worry is.I wonder whether government departments’ own cash flow positions will allow them to be so speedy when it comes to paying out, when they undoubtedly will be suffering from a slowdown of payments from their own debtors in these dark economic times. Still, I’ll leave the debate open , and hopefully hear from any readers if they have any experience of the 10 day pledge in operation.