LCC No PO No Pay

P2P No PO No Pay FAQ

This FAQ provides a summary of a more detailed No PO No Pay (No Purchase Order No Payment) FAQ for officers of LCC who request goods, services or works from suppliers.

Q1: What is No PO No Pay?

No PO No Pay is one of Leicestershire County Council’s key financial control measures to ensure that payments are only made to suppliers and contractors where the supplied invoice (paper or electronic) contains a valid official purchase order (PO) number (unless a pre-agreed exception by the Financial Control Group applies)

Q2: Why No PO No Pay?

No PO No Pay ensures that the Council only pays for goods, services, and works which have been properly ordered and authorised. It also ensures invoices received by the FSC can be processed efficiently to minimise delay to suppliers and contractors. Invoices received by the FSC without a valid PO number will not be paid and will be returned to the supplier.

Q3: When does No PO No Pay come into effect?

The Council is taking a soft launch approach in 2023 with a plan to fully implement No PO No Pay by April 2024 and the new financial year.

Q4: How does No PO No Pay work?

No PO No Pay works by requiring all invoices submitted by suppliers and contractors to contain an official PO number. In all but exceptional circumstances the PO number:

• will be generated from the Council’s corporate purchasing and payment system (Oracle Cloud) or approved Line of Business system, and
• given to the supplier or contractor BEFORE making any commitment to spend Council monies.
  
  

Q5: What happens if a supplier submits an invoice without an official purchase order number?

Invoices received by the FSC without a valid PO number will be returned to the supplier.

Q6: The nature of the goods I am purchasing means we are unable to raise the PO at the point of ordering, what do we do?

If you are unable to raise a PO at the point of ordering goods and services, and the supplier is set up with a valid contract, you should raise the PO immediately after the charging has been determined, and prior to the invoice being raised.  You should discuss these arrangements with your suppliers to ensure they can provide billing information to enable the PO to be raised ahead of the invoices.

Q7: Where should suppliers submit their invoice?

Invoices should be submitted to the FSC via -  leicsinvoices@emss.org.uk

Q8: The supplier has sent me the invoice direct, without a PO, what do we do?

If the invoice is genuine and a PO has not been raised, you should raise a retrospective PO and ask the supplier to quote this on their invoice ahead of them re-submitting the invoice to the FSC.

Q9: How are invoices matched to a Purchase Order?

A robot is deciding on whether a PO is valid or not so if the format is not correct e.g., it has a space, dot or character that shouldn’t be in there, it will be rejected, if it is not prefixed with LCC it will be rejected. The PO MUST also be in the header of the invoice, not the body and the format must match 100% or it will be rejected

Q10: How do I submit an exception to the process?

All exceptions to the NO PO NO PAY policy must be agreed by Strategic Finance.  You can request for an exception to be considered by visiting the Financial Control group intranet page and completing the eform.  All requests will be considered fairly and will be reviewed to ensure all aspects of the P2P process have been considered and there is a clear requirement for an exception.

Q11: Is there any advice or guidance we can share with our suppliers?

Yes, please share this link https://emss.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/77000496975-submitting-an-invoice-for-payment

Q12: Is there any training available?

There is no formal e learning available at this time but further guidance and information can be found on the Finance and Procurement Intranet pages and in https://emss.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/77000496975-submitting-an-invoice-for-payment