Free tool
JCT payment date calculator
Enter an Interim Valuation Date and get the four dates that govern an interim payment under the JCT Minor Works Building Contract — 2016 and 2024 editions. Public holidays are excluded from the day counts, as the contract requires; weekends are not.
Enter the Interim Valuation Date for the payment cycle — the dates appear here.
How the Minor Works payment cycle works
Under an unamended JCT Minor Works contract, each interim payment runs on a fixed timetable anchored to the Interim Valuation Date — the date set in the contract particulars, defaulting to one month after works commencement and monthly thereafter.
- Due date. The payment becomes due 7 days after the Interim Valuation Date. This is the anchor for everything that follows.
- Payment certificate. The contract administrator must issue the interim certificate within 5 days after the due date. The certificate is the payer's payment notice.
- Pay less notice. If the employer intends to pay less than the certified sum, the notice must be given not later than 5 days before the final date for payment.
- Final date for payment. 14 days after the due date — note: after the due date, not after the certificate. A certificate issued on the last permitted day does not move the final date.
If no certificate is issued, the contractor's own application for payment stands as the payment notice, and where it is submitted after the certificate deadline the final date for payment is postponed by the number of days it was late.
How days are counted
The JCT reckoning provision counts a period of days starting immediately after the specified date, and excludes Christmas Day, Good Friday, and any day that is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 — each such holiday inside a period pushes the deadline by a day. Weekends are not excluded: a deadline can fall on a Saturday or Sunday, which is why this calculator shows the day of the week for every date.
Bank holidays differ between England & Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland — select the nation whose holidays apply to your contract. For the pay less notice, which counts backwards from the final date, a holiday inside the window moves the latest safe date earlier; this calculator always shows the conservative date.
2016 or 2024 edition?
The interim payment mechanics are identical in the 2016 and 2024 editions of the Minor Works contract — the 2024 revisions changed termination payments, insolvency grounds and fluctuations, not the interim cycle. This calculator applies to both, provided the payment provisions are unamended. Always check your contract particulars and any schedule of amendments: bespoke payment terms are common.
We wrote up what encoding these rules made us check — including why a bank holiday moves the final date for payment but not the pay less deadline — in The JCT payment dates that catch people out.
This tool is provided as a working aid for building surveyors and contract administrators. It does not constitute legal or professional advice.