What is the JCT payment timeline?
Interim valuation date, due date seven days later, Payment Notice within five days of the due date, Pay Less Notice at least five days before the final date, final date 14 days after the due date, unless amended.
Updated: 15 September 2026. By Jack Butler-Kettle, Quantity Surveyor & Claims Consultant.
The answer
Under the unamended JCT 2016 forms the cycle runs from the Interim Valuation Date in the contract particulars. The due date is seven days after it. The payer's Payment Notice is due within five days after the due date. The final date for payment is 14 days after the due date, and any Pay Less Notice must be given not later than five days before that final date. If the payee has made an interim payment application by the Interim Valuation Date and no Payment Notice arrives, the application stands as the notice and its sum becomes the notified sum. Amended JCT contracts routinely change the periods, most often lengthening the final date and moving the Pay Less Notice window, so the diary must be built from the executed contract and its schedule of amendments, not from the standard form. Count in calendar days and treat the last day as the deadline, not the day after.
Example
The situation
An unamended JCT Standard Building Contract has an Interim Valuation Date of 20 June. The dates that follow from it are worked through, and then the effect of an amendment to the final date for payment.
What happens
- The due date falls on 27 June, seven days after the Interim Valuation Date.
- The Payment Notice is due by 2 July.
- The final date for payment is 11 July, and a Pay Less Notice must be received by 6 July.
- An amendment that makes the final date 28 days after the due date moves the final date to 25 July and the Pay Less Notice deadline to 20 July.
The timeline in dates
| Date | Unamended | With the 28-day amendment |
|---|---|---|
| Interim Valuation Date | 20 June | 20 June |
| Due date | 27 June | 27 June |
| Payment Notice by | 2 July | 2 July |
| Pay Less Notice by | 6 July | 20 July |
| Final date for payment | 11 July | 25 July |
The outcome
Unamended, the cycle runs from 20 June to a final date of 11 July with the Pay Less Notice by 6 July; the 28-day amendment pushes those to 25 July and 20 July.
The Deadline Diary derives these dates from the executed contract and its amendments for every live job.