2.22 Highways England (a government-owned company within the DfT group) now uses project bank accounts as standard for supply chain payment. These are ring-fenced bank accounts from which payments can be made to all members of the supply chain, rather than relying on prime contractors to pass payments on to subcontractors. Highways England told us it introduced these accounts to ensure that prime contractors were not delaying payments to subcontractors, although it recognised that setting them up can be costly. It reported benefits for SMEs in particular as they have reduced capital costs and are better protected if the prime contractor goes into liquidation. Project bank accounts are not widely used elsewhere in government.