Reporting on Retentions - update January 2025

Legislation to amend the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations to introduce new reporting requirements on retentions has now been approved by Parliament, and large companies will be required to include the following information on retentions as part of the payment reports they submit every six months:

• A series of statements confirming whether retention clauses are used and if so whether there are any standard terms
• A description of the process for release of retention
• A sum showing the overall value of retentions held by the company from its suppliers as a percentage of that held by its clients
• A sum showing the total retention held from the company’s suppliers as a percentage of all money paid to suppliers.

These amendments to the Regulations will apply to each financial year of a company beginning on or after 1 April 2025, which means that for companies with a financial year beginning on 1 January, their first reports containing the new metrics will be for the period 1 ? 30 June 2026 and need to be submitted by 30 July 2026.

During the Parliamentary process, Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports Gareth Thomas highlighted Build UK’s payment performance table saying: “Its work shows a significant improvement in terms of payment, and we hope a similar level of improvement will be achieved by the requirements in this [Statutory Instrument]”. We are currently working with the Department for Business and Trade to update the guidance to the Regulations which is expected to be published in March.