Construction ยท
815 large companies hold back retentions on construction contracts, with 5% the usual rate
The first reports to include the question show 815 of 1,453 construction reporters using retention clauses, with a typical standard rate of 5%.
- Construction reporters: 1,453
- With retention clauses: 815
- Typical standard rate: 5%
- Set at exactly 5%: 272
815 of the 1,453 large companies that reported construction contracts in their latest period said those contracts include retention clauses. A retention lets the paying party hold back part of each payment, usually until the work is finished and then until the end of the defects period.
The typical standard retention rate was 5%. Of the companies that gave a rate, 272 set it at exactly 5%, 150 below and 9 above; 384 did not give a rate.
Where companies said how much they held, the median value of retentions came to 2% of their total payments in the period.
The highest standard rates were reported by Kone Public Limited Company (15%), Lumentum Technology UK Limited (10%), Northern Powergrid Metering Limited (10%), Davidson Kempner European Partners, LLP (10%) and The Extracare Charitable Trust (10%).
Construction reporters took a median of 31 days to pay. The slowest were Mondelez UK Confectionery Production Limited (113 days), Tata Steel UK Limited (107 days), John Dewar and Sons Limited (105 days), Severfield (Design & Build) Limited (102 days) and Cadbury UK Limited (98 days). Companies that commission building work report construction contracts too, so the list includes firms outside the industry.
The construction and retention questions were added to the reports filed from July 2025, so only the most recent filings include them. Every company is listed on the retention clauses table; our explainer covers how retention bonds work.
About these figures
Figures are what each company filed on the government's Check payment practices service, as downloaded on 3 November 2026. Large companies and limited liability partnerships must report every six months under the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017. Unless stated, each company's latest report is used, counting only periods that ended on or after 4 May 2025, and reports with figures that cannot be right are left out. Companies whose latest figures look inconsistent with their earlier filings, such as an average more than double their previous report, are not named in our stories; they stay in the tables with a note. How we use the data.
Written by Fair Payment's data desk from the filed figures, without a human writing step. Source: Check payment practices, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.