The AGS have joined a confederation of almost 70 trade bodies and industry groups to back the so-called ‘Aldous Bill.’

The aim of the Aldous Bill (named after Peter Aldous MP who introduced it), is to change the practice of retentions and protect monies from insolvency; hopefully releasing millions of pounds back into the industry. To put it into perspective, the abuse of retentions has been abandoned by many other countries, including the USA, Germany, France, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Yet here in the UK, recent government research indicated that £700 million worth of retentions was lost as a result of insolvencies over the past three years. This means that for each working day, the construction industry is haemorrhaging almost £1 million of cash retentions.

This statistic alone justifies urgent intervention to ring-fence the monies, but in the aftermath of the Carillion liquidation, there is an unprecedented campaign from the industry calling on government to act. Proposals to stop the abuse of retentions have been made before, but in January 2018 the Aldous Bill passed its first reading unopposed and as we approach the second reading on April 27th ‘Aldous Bill’ has the broad backing of many industry associations, and cross-party support from over 100 MPs.

For further information, visit the BESA website.