Record date vs payment date
One of these dates decides whether you are paid. The other only decides when. Confusing them is the most common dividend-timetable mistake — here is exactly what each one does.
- The record date decides who is paid — whoever is on the shareholder register that day. The payment date only decides when the cash arrives.
- The typical gap between them is two weeks: a median of 14 days across this registry’s data, with 98.7% of dividends paid within roughly 30 business days of the record date.
- You do not need to hold the shares on the payment date. If you were on the register at the record date, you are paid — even if you sold the day after.
What is the difference between the record date and the payment date?
The record date is the day a company reads its shareholder register to decide who is entitled to a dividend. The payment date is the later day the cash is actually sent. Entitlement is settled entirely on the record date; the payment date adds nothing to it but timing. In this registry’s data the two are separated by a median of 14 days.
The order matters and never reverses. A company first fixes who is owed the money, then pays it. By the payment date the register that mattered has already been read and closed — which is why selling your shares between the two dates costs you nothing.
Almost everything that confuses people about dividend dates comes from collapsing these two into one. They answer different questions: the record date answers am I owed this dividend?, the payment date answers when does it land?
The two dates, and the one before them
The record date and payment date are the back half of a four-date timetable. The two dates that decide entitlement — the ex-dividend date and the record date — sit close together at the start; the payment date follows weeks later. This guide is about the back half; the ex-dividend date is covered in its own guide.
| Date | What it controls |
|---|---|
| RECORD DATE | The register snapshot. Whoever holds the shares at the close of this day is entitled to the dividend. Decides who is paid. |
| PAYMENT DATE | The cash arrives. Sent to everyone entitled at the record date, whether or not they still hold the shares. Decides when, not who. |
The ex-dividend date — normally one business day before the record date — is what most investors actually act on, because it is the last day a purchase can settle in time to make the register. The record date is the consequence of it; the payment date is what follows once entitlement is locked.
What does the record date actually do?
The record date freezes a list. At the close of business that day the company’s registrar takes a snapshot of the shareholder register, and that snapshot — not who holds the shares later — determines every payment. Across this registry, 57% of record dates fall on a Friday and 36% on a Thursday, together more than nine in ten.
That clustering is not arbitrary. The London Stock Exchange’s Dividend Procedure Timetable asks that record dates “normally be a Friday”, which places the ex-dividend date on the Thursday before. A Thursday record date — with a Wednesday ex-date — is the common second pattern, especially among investment funds and exchange-traded products that set their own house timetables.
What the record date is not is a deadline to keep holding. Once you are on the snapshot, you are owed the dividend permanently. You can sell every share the next morning and the payment still arrives. This is the single most useful thing to understand about the date.
How long after the record date is a dividend paid?
About two weeks, as a rule. The median gap between record date and payment date across the 9,951 dividends in this registry that carry both dates is 14 calendar days; nine in ten are paid within 28 days. The London Stock Exchange asks companies to pay straightforward cash dividends within 30 business days of the record date.
The guideline largely holds. In 98.7% of these records the cash arrived within 42 calendar days of the record date — roughly the exchange’s 30-business-day window once weekends are counted. Where a scrip or currency election is offered, the exchange asks for a tighter 20-business-day turnaround, because the election itself has to be processed before payment.
Ex-dividend date. The last day a buyer can deal and still settle in time to reach the register.
Record date. The register is read at the close of business. Entitlement is now fixed. From here, who holds the shares no longer matters for this dividend.
Payment date — about two weeks later, the median in this registry’s data. The cash is sent to everyone on the 5 June register.
Payments themselves bunch up by weekday. Just over half — 50.5% — of the payment dates recorded here fall on a Thursday, with Wednesday and Friday next, a rhythm set by the same weekly timetable that anchors the record date.
Do I have to hold the shares on the payment date?
No. Entitlement is fixed at the record date, full stop. If you were on the register that day, the dividend is yours on the payment date even if you sold the shares the following morning. Holding on the payment date earns nothing if you bought after the entitlement cut-off.
This is the mirror image of the ex-dividend rule. A seller who deals on or after the ex-date keeps the dividend, because their sale settles too late to remove them from the register. The buyer in that trade waits for the next dividend. The payment date simply pays out whatever the record date decided.
Why is my dividend paid later than the stated payment date?
Usually because a platform holds your shares through a nominee. Most shares bought through an investment platform sit in a nominee account: the platform’s nominee company is what appears on the shareholder register, so it is the nominee that is counted at the record date and paid on the payment date.
The company pays the nominee in one lump on the payment date. The platform then splits that payment across individual customer accounts, and that internal step can add a short delay — often a day or two, occasionally longer. The dividend amount per share does not change; only the final crediting is later than the issuer’s stated date.
Foreign-currency dividends are confirmed near the payment date
A large share of UK-listed dividends are not declared in sterling at all. Of this registry’s records carrying a stated currency, 53% were in a currency other than sterling — mostly US dollars and euros, and weighted towards investment funds that pay in their share class’s currency. For these, the payment date carries an extra job.
The issuer often declares the dividend in the foreign currency first and confirms the exact sterling amount only in a second announcement, close to payment, once the exchange rate is fixed. The dates are set early; the sterling figure arrives late.
Can the payment date change after it is announced?
Yes, and it does. Any change to an announced dividend timetable — including the payment date — must be agreed with the exchange and then re-announced through an official regulatory announcement. Currency confirmations, corrections and the formal approval of a final dividend can all move or settle a date that was first published weeks earlier.
That is why this registry never overwrites a record: each change creates a new version linked to the announcement that caused it, with the earlier version preserved. If a payment date here differs from one you saw elsewhere, the version history shows which announcement set which date. The methodology page explains how that versioning works.
Quick answers
What is the difference between the record date and the payment date?
The record date decides who is entitled to the dividend — whoever is on the register that day. The payment date is the later day the cash is sent. One settles entitlement; the other only schedules the money.
How long after the record date is a dividend paid?
Usually about two weeks. The median gap in this registry’s data is 14 days, and 98.7% of dividends were paid within roughly 30 business days of the record date.
Do I need to hold the shares on the payment date to be paid?
No. If you were on the register at the record date you are paid, even if you sold the shares before the payment date. Entitlement is fixed at the record date and does not depend on holding afterwards.
Is the record date always a Friday?
Most often, but not always: 57% of record dates here fall on a Friday and 36% on a Thursday. The exchange asks for a Friday by convention, but a Thursday record date is a common second pattern, especially among funds.
Why is my dividend paid later than the company’s stated date?
Because a platform usually holds your shares through a nominee. The company pays the nominee on the payment date, and the platform then credits your account, which can add a short delay. The amount per share is unchanged.
Can the payment date change after it is announced?
Yes. Timetable changes must be agreed with the exchange and re-announced. Foreign-currency dividends in particular are commonly confirmed near payment, once the sterling amount is fixed.
- London Stock Exchange, Dividend Procedure Timetable 2026 — record-date convention, the 30-business-day cash payment window and the 20-business-day window for scrip and currency elections.
- Registry figures (9,951 record-and-payment pairs, the 14-day median gap, the 98.7%-within-30-business-days and weekday distributions, the 53% non-sterling share) are computed from this site’s own dataset of official UK regulatory filings, June 2026 — see the methodology.
This guide is general information about how UK dividend timetables work. It is not investment, tax or legal advice, and it does not recommend any investment. Always verify dates against the issuer’s own announcement.
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