No Retention campaign gains backing from members, Crossrail and Stanhope

The National Specialist Contractors Council today launched a campaign against main contractors holding retentions on jobs.

The No Retention campaign has the backing of all the umbrella trade body鈥檚 32 member organisations and aims to eliminate cash retentions by providing specialist contractors with the support they need to resist retentions.

The council said it was delighted to see that high profile clients such as Crossrail and Stanhope are increasingly recognising that there are better guarantees of quality than cash retention.

Stanhope removed retentions from its contracts some 20 years ago when it recognised that there was considerable disadvantage to its suppliers.

Peter Rogers, Director of Stanhope, said: 鈥淭he passage of time has strengthened the case for our policy, having both improved the relationships with suppliers and removed the risk of abuse.鈥�

Project bosses at Crossrail have also confirmed that they will not include cash retention in contracts and it has said it does not expect cash retention to be withheld from the supply chain.

Project Bank Accounts will be used on Crossrail projects to increase transparency and make sure that cash retention is not imposed on the supply chain.

The NSCC said it hoped other major clients to follow suit.

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