Finances!

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is providing the lion’s share of the grant funding needed to reinvigorate the pier – roughly £11.4 million – and one of the key tasks  to perform is to submit a monthly claim against that grant.  This involves providing details of all the expenditure incurred to date.

As far as construction costs are concerned, the quantity surveyor provides a monthly assessment of the rate of progress on each of the contracts for work on the pier.  The progress is then valued and the contractor is asked to provide an invoice equal to the valuation.

When each invoice is received it is entered into the accounting system and becomes ‘eligible expenditure’ for grant purposes.  Typically the construction industry operates on a 28 day credit cycle, this means that payment for an invoice isn’t due until 28 days after the date of the valuation.

Managing the timing of submission of  HLF claims and  VAT returns ensures that cash flows are not adversely affected by payments to contractors and thus maintains a steady flow of cash into the coffers to meet ongoing commitments.