Validity of payment and pay less notices

In Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust v Logan Construction (South East) Ltd [2017] EWHC 17 (TCC) Mr Alexander Nissen QC held that the claimant was not entitled to a declaration that the Interim Payment Notice served by the defendant contractor was invalid but that it was entitled to a declaration that the Pay Less Notice which it had served was valid. In so concluding Mr Nissan QC emphasised that, when deciding whether a notice amounts to a valid Interim Payment Notice, it is necessary to have regard to the substance, form and intent of the notice. In relation to the Pay Less Notice he held that the notice was valid because it contained all the material which should be conveyed by such a notice and that there was sufficient evidence to establish that, objectively, the employer intended to serve such a notice.