OCU Group: Scaling with confidence – enhancing governance and strengthening the supply chain | UK

The Challenges

OCU Group had been reliant on a manual, paper-based payment process for many years. The team realised the need to digitise and automate the process.

• As project volumes increased, so were the number of subcontractor applications for payment needing to be managed – manual and spreadsheet methods were not scalable.
  
  
• Payment process inefficiencies were risking regulatory compliance.
  
  
• Manual administration of applications were starting to cause bottlenecks, potentially delaying subcontractor payments which would mean weakening supply chain cash flow.
  
  

Peter Vevers, Commercial Director of Utility Services, explained, “Before Payapps, our team was drowning in
paperwork and spreadsheets, which resulted in constant inconsistencies and delays. If someone was away from the business, we couldn’t see whether an application had been responded to, which not only delayed subcontractor payments but put us at risk under the Housing and Grants Act.”

As a business focused on not just being the biggest but the best, OCU Group places huge emphasis on process and governance controls, so there was a concern over the potential for non-compliance with industry regulations. 

The Solution

• Automation of a standardised application for payment process, providing a centralised view and one source of truth for OCU Group and its supply chains.
  
  
• Real-time visibility of application for payment status for OCU Group and its subcontractors – ensuring timely, compliant actioning of applications and payment notices, and time saved that had been
  previously spent chasing certifications and payments.
  
  
• First-class, highly responsive support from the Payapps team, offering guidance and advice to both OCU Group and subcontractors during set-up and beyond.
  
  

Peter revealed how Payapps helps commercial and finance departments work efficiently together. He said, “When a payment is certified in Payapps, it moves directly into our accounting software, where it goes through a separate compliance check before flowing through for payment. This all happens now without any printing, scanning or emails – and it’s working really well.”

Timely actioning of applications, payment notices and certifications was also a necessity for Construction Act adherence as Group Commercial Director, Chris Corrie, explains, “The protection the software brings by ensuring our legislative compliance was certainly a big focus for us. We’re an acquisitive business, so the intuitive workflows in Payapps ensure businesses new to us quickly integrate and adhere to our robust processes.”

Chris also praised the flexibility of Payapps, saying, “Since we went live in November 2024, we’ve put £270 million worth of payments through the system. The flexibility of Payapps to accommodate the different models and supply chain valuation methods – because we’re such a diverse group – is one of the key strengths of the system.”

The Results

• Greater consistency: Digital workflows and format standardisation has reduced rejection of applications to less than 5%.
  
  
• Increased accuracy: Volume of invoice rejections, credits and re-invoicing has reduced now inaccurate spreadsheets are no longer relied upon to communicate certified application values.
  
  
• Improved productivity: Certifications have more than doubled in a 12-month period, from around 800 to 2000, with no need to increase finance team headcount.
  
  
• Reduced administration: Manual spreadsheets and paperwork are eliminated, making it quicker and easier to submit, assess and manage thousands of applications across multiple contracts.
  
  
• Stronger supply chain relationships: Transparency, a clear audit trail and reliable payments mean subcontractor trust and collaboration is significantly strengthened.
  
  
• Fewer disputes: Better data visibility as a result of Payapps’ easy to access system has helped improve communication and reduce misunderstandings across teams.
  
  

Peter said, “The subcontractors like it because they can see their agreed value every week. If we disagree with a value, they can see which week we disagree with and then they can raise that query with the site manager, and the query’s quickly resolved. And if you were to go into Payapps right now and look at any of the historic weeks, anything more than two or three weeks old is fully agreed – either we’ve subsequently paid the money because they’ve provided the evidence that may have been missing, or the subcontractor has agreed that their valuation was incorrect and amended on their side.”