What is a default payment notice, and does it change the payment date?
A default payment notice is a conditional payee route: check whether an earlier qualifying application already acts as the notice, whether a separate notice is needed and whether serving it later changes the final date for payment.
Updated: 14 September 2026. By Jack Butler-Kettle, Quantity Surveyor & Claims Consultant.
The answer
A default payment notice is the payee's route when a payer or specified person has failed to give a required payment notice. A qualifying earlier application can already perform that role. If it does, the payee does not give a second default notice. If it does not, a separate compliant payee notice may be needed, and serving that notice later can postpone the final date for payment.
Under section 110B of the Construction Act, first establish that the payer was required to give a payment notice and failed to do so. Then distinguish two situations:
The contract permitted or required an earlier notification of the sum expected to become due and its calculation, and the payee gave that notification in accordance with the contract. That notification is treated as the payee notice under section 110B(4). It is not enough that a document happens to be called an application. No further notice is given under section 110B(2), and the later-notice postponement does not arise.
There is no qualifying earlier notification. Once the payer's notice deadline has passed, section 110B(2) provides for a payee notice stating the sum considered due at the payment due date and its calculation. Section 110B(3) postpones the final date by the number of days between the payer's missed deadline and the payee giving that notice.
Does day six mean payment is delayed by six days?
No. Assume solely for this example that the payer's notice deadline is day five after the due date, no earlier application qualifies, and the payee effectively gives its compliant notice on day six. The postponement is one day: six minus five. It is not six days counted from the due date. If the original final date were day nineteen, it would become day twenty. Check the actual dates, counting rules and effective service before using this arithmetic on a project.
Can the payer still give a pay less notice?
Missing the payment-notice deadline does not, by itself, remove a remaining valid pay less notice route. Check the operative notice, any revised final date and the actual pay less notice deadline. A pay less notice does not erase the application or decide the final value of the work. Keep the notice-based payment position separate from the underlying valuation dispute.
This explanation concerns the section 110B mechanism where it applies. Section 110A, contract coverage, amendments and jurisdiction matter; Northern Ireland has separate legislation, and the local Scheme must be identified where relevant. [Placefirst Construction Ltd v CAR Construction (North East) Ltd [2025] EWHC 100 (TCC)](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/tcc/2025/100) illustrates why the actual communications matter. For a live disputed notice or deadline, obtain advice on the actual documents before acting.
The two section 110B positions
| Position | What follows under section 110B |
|---|---|
| A qualifying earlier notification was given | It is treated as the payee notice under section 110B(4). No further section 110B(2) notice is given, so the later-notice postponement does not arise. |
| There is no qualifying earlier notification | After the payer's notice deadline passes, section 110B(2) provides for a compliant payee notice; section 110B(3) postpones the final date by the days between the missed deadline and that notice. |
Example
The situation
The payer's Payment Notice deadline is day five after the due date, no earlier application qualifies as a payee notice, and the original final date for payment is day nineteen.
What happens
- The payee effectively gives its compliant default notice on day six.
- The postponement is the gap between day six and day five, one day.
- The revised final date for payment is day twenty.
The outcome
The final date moves from day nineteen to day twenty; the actual contract, its counting rules and the service evidence are checked before the dates are relied on.
The Default Payment Notice template helps assemble a document once the correct route has been established. For notice checking, see Payment & Pay Less Notice Checking & Response, and where a deadline is urgent see Emergency Notice Desk. The template does not establish validity.