NHS SBS suppliers are not mandated to route documents through  PEPPOL in order to invoice NHS SBS, merely that, NHS SBS is required to offer electronic invoicing in general, and make Peppol available as an option. NHS SBS offers the opportunity, via Tradeshift,  of utilising Peppol routed document forwarding or of integrating directly with Tradeshift. Peppol is a potential option if the Supplier DOES NOT already have an existing direct integration. In such circumstances, Tradeshift can assist with the Peppol process.



However, if the supplier is already directly integrated to Tradeshift, this should remain the method forwarding invoices and credit Notes to your NHS Trust



Advantages of retaining direct integration:

• Real time document feedback 
• No manual exception handling
• Manual process on both NHS and supplier side and can cause potential pay on time delays
• PO flip is not available through Peppol
• Invoice to credit note flip not available via Peppol



Summary

Documents can go through PEPPOL when either the sender or the receiver is not on Tradeshift. When both are on Tradeshift, the recommendation is to continue to route documents via your existing integration rather than switch.