SOME local businesses are having to wait more than 30 days for Wirral Council to pay their bills.

The authority's directors set the prompt turnaround of invoices as one of their key objectives, forming part of the strategic corporate plan.

But a new report shows the town hall is way off target in its pledge to settle bills as soon as possible.

And it says the response from managers to a directive urging them to improve the service has been “disappointing.”

Back in 2010 the Government set guidelines of ten days for councils to pay their bills to small and medium-sized businesses.

But Wirral is even failing to make payments to their suppliers within the 30-day period mandated by the Late Payment of Commercial Debt Act, which came into force in March 2013.

A success rate of 60% was set for paying small traders’ invoices within ten days – but only 33% are actually being dealt with in that time.

The 30-day turnaround has a target of 90%- but the success rate is only 81% - meaning some firms are having to wait more than a month for the local authority to pay up.

A review of the problems will be presented to next week’s meeting of the policy and performance committee.

It says the payments manager has been contacting departments to try to ensure the process is speeded up, “but the responses are disappointing.”

It concludes that if improvements are to be made, there needs to be a “concerted approach” by heads of service.

A statement from the council said: “We acknowledge the importance of paying local small and medium-size suppliers promptly.

“We are doing everything we can to improve performance in this area, including reminding heads of service of their responsibilities to ensure processes are following correctly.

“We remain confident of meeting the target by year-end.”

Last summer, professional standards body the Asset Based Finance Association carried out research that showed councils were paying their suppliers in an average of 17 days.

But it found the average wait for payment was in excess of 40 days for some local authorities.

Jeff Longhurst, chief executive of the ABFA, said at the time: “Public sector organisations should be acting as role models for the private sector in paying their invoices as promptly as possible.

“Central Government bodies have performed well in hitting their prompt payment targets – many now pay more than 90% of their invoices within five days.

“The current average of 17 days for local councils leaves a lot of room for improvement.

“Those that fail to pay within 30 days risk damaging businesses in their local areas.”