Can they DO this?

[solidgoldbullet4myvalentine]

I have posted before about a publishing company who are bad payers: the latest I hear is that they have decided to extend their payment term ie instead of payments being due (though not being made until you have phoned several times and the money is over a week late) 40 days after the end of the month of publication, payments will now be due 70 days after the end of the month of publication. Can they just decide to pay people even later? They really do seem to be tr5eating all freelance contributors as people who, if ignored long enough, will give up and go away.

No they can't. Even 40 days is unusual, most companies pay 30 days from publication. The payment is due when you say it is due on the invoice - most people put 30 days from publication. DH and I now have a thing on our invoices stating that payment is due 30 days after invoicing (but really that means 30 days after publication, even if they sit on it for weeks) and that after that time we will begin to charge interest on the outstanding amount. You need to make YOUR TERMs clear to them, it is not up to the customer when to decide to get around to paying.
Having said that, we have still got some invoices outstanding since October