Build UK bosses vow to tackle poor payment practices

Bigwigs at Build UK want to benchmark members’ payment records as part of an initiative to tackle the industry’s late payment culture.

It said the system would help clients, contractors and suppliers to make better decisions about who they work with.

The trade group also said it was creating a taskforce to identify and challenge contractual clauses regularly introduced to the standard forms of contract that “demand the impossible and perpetuate the inequitable transfer of risk”.

The move follows Carillion’s collapse in the middle of January and Build UK chief executive Suzannah Nichol said: “[It] shows the outcome when a major industry sector operates with a commercial model that is not fit for purpose.

“We have seen up close what happens when we have a combination of lowest price, inequitable transfer of contract risk, poor payment practices and inadequate governance.”