Rejected petition Place contract industry retentions into trust funds

Following detailed feedback from our readers and industry partners, H&V News magazine wishes to propose that legislation should be introduced requiring all funds identified as retentions within construction industry project contracts be placed in a trust fund in future.

This will ensure that these funds are protected and guaranteed to be paid to recipients at the appropriate time.

Retentions are estimated to account for billions of pounds in the construction sector and many companies report that the lack of protection has resulted in these sums being lost or delayed, causing serious issues for those affected.

This will place the UK in line with other countries, including France, Germany, America and Australia.

By establishing a legal framework whereby all retention monies are held in a ring-fenced trust fund many of the current difficulties experienced by construction industry contractors will be avoided in the future.