Can a Payment Notice be a Pay Less Notice?
Possibly, but a line saying 'treat this as a Pay Less Notice too' does not make one document work as both.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Equally, one email is not always incapable of doing both. And a Pay Less Notice does not always have to follow a Payment Notice. Each role has its own purpose, content, valuation date, deadline and service rules, and the document must meet each one. Keep the document exactly as it was sent. Where both roles are being relied on, have it checked against your subcontract. The case of Placefirst Construction Ltd v CAR Construction (North East) Ltd [2025] EWHC 100 (TCC) shows why the facts and the actual emails matter. See especially paragraphs 37, 40 and 52. It is not permission to use a combined template.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
Three days after the due date, your main contractor sends a document stating £40,000 against your £55,000 application. Its wording tries to cover more than one notice role at once.
What happens
- You check the document against your subcontract: what it actually does, who sent it and when.
- You also check the date its sum is valued at, the calculation and how it was sent.
- A later £6,000 issue comes up, and you record it separately.
- You do not treat the first document as a standing answer to every later deduction.
The sums in question
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Application | £55,000 |
| Document sent 3 days after the due date | £40,000 |
| Later issue, recorded separately | £6,000 |
The outcome
The document is judged on what it does and how it was sent under your subcontract. The £6,000 is dealt with on its own record.
To have a combined notice tested for each role it claims to play, see our Underpayment Claim service.
Sources
- Placefirst Construction Ltd v CAR Construction (North East) Ltd [2025] EWHC 100 (TCC) (High Court, Technology and Construction Court, 24 January 2025). The National Archives, Find Case Law.