A headline about banning construction retention payments does not tell you whether a particular retained sum can be released today. Start with the actual agreement and the current legal status, then distinguish a calculation, a release condition and money actually received.
This guide explains the records a small contractor needs to review and supplies a Word worksheet for the relevant contract or financial adviser. Its percentage and amounts are illustrative, not a standard retention rate or a determination that a deduction is permitted.
Status checked 1 October 2026: the Commercial Payments Bill remains proposed legislation in the official material reviewed. Use the dated parliamentary sources below and recheck them before relying on a later position. This guide does not decide the rights or tax treatment of an individual contract.
Download the Jobsworth retention review worksheet
One Word file with contract and amount fields, release-condition records, illustrative arithmetic and questions for project-specific advice. Official reform sources were checked on 1 October 2026.
Identify what is being retained
Retention describes money held back in connection with contractual performance or related conditions. The actual clause, parties and payment records determine what needs reviewing. A generic percentage in an industry example does not establish the arrangement for your work.
Enter the contract, project, parties, applicable jurisdiction and relevant clause in the worksheet. Identify the person reviewing the legal and financial questions. Keep the actual agreement available rather than replace it with a general description of how retention often works.
Distinguish a stated retention mechanism from an unexplained unpaid balance. An Invoice query, partial payment and amount identified as retained can require different investigations. Record what the evidence actually says before choosing a release or recovery conversation.
Avoid inferring the applicable position solely from where a business is based. The project and agreement need their own review. The worksheet prompts those details so a later adviser has a defined question rather than a headline and an amount.
Check the amount and basis
The same £600 arithmetic could come from 5% of £12,000 or 3% of £20,000. Knowing the held amount alone cannot identify the underlying base or percentage. Obtain the actual assessment reference and clause before reconstructing a calculation. If someone only supplies a shorthand percentage, record which value it applies to and what evidence still needs checking.
Where a project has customer and supplier agreements, keep their retained-amount records distinct. A sum held from your business and a sum recorded in a subcontract concern different parties, conditions and dates. They should not be netted into one unexplained figure. Review each actual arrangement with the relevant adviser instead of assuming a receipt or release under one relationship settles the other.
Identify the assessment or value used for the actual calculation and its basis. The illustrative worksheet uses £12,000 and 5%, giving £600. That multiplication explains the arithmetic, not whether the clause or deduction is enforceable.
Review whether the value concerns a contract total, a particular payment assessment or another defined amount. Different bases can produce different sums even with the same percentage. Keep the supporting record and clause reference together.
Use actual billing and tax information through the appropriate financial process. The worksheet calculates no VAT treatment and does not change an issued document. A before-tax example is not a decision about the correct presentation for your supply.
If records contain several deductions or releases, trace them to their actual references. Do not assume that a figure on one document describes the complete retained position. Identify missing information and the person obtaining it.
When two records disagree, retain both references and the exact difference. An assessment showing £600 and a ledger showing £550 leave a £50 question to investigate. Do not overwrite either figure simply to make the worksheet balance. Record the correction and its supporting evidence once the discrepancy has been resolved.
Record release conditions and evidence
The release table asks for the amount or stage, actual agreement condition, confirming evidence, date basis and receipt information. Complete those fields from the reviewed arrangement instead of importing a universal two-stage release pattern.
A condition may need an actual review or document before its effect can be assessed. Retain what exists and what remains uncertain. A proposed completion date or a general note saying defects resolved is not automatically the evidence the agreement requires.
Record a release decision or claim distinctly from cash actually received. In the arithmetic example, a later £300 receipt allocated to the illustrative £600 leaves £300 on that numerical basis. It does not establish a right to the remaining sum or a date for it.
If the relevant condition or timing is disputed, identify the question for suitable advice. The worksheet helps organise the facts; it is not a formal notice, determination or authority to rewrite the payment position.
Understand the dated reform status
Parliament’s stages page lists the Commercial Payments Bill’s Lords report stage on 15 September 2026 and a future third reading on 20 October 2026. It warns that future dates may be provisional. That is a legislative timetable, not proof that the proposed ban already governs every contract.
In a government answer dated 7 September 2026, the retention measure is described as coming into force through Commencement Regulations following Royal Assent, with a two-year transitional period. Check the current Bill and any later legislation or commencement material before applying a rule.
Keep proposal, enactment, commencement and contract applicability as separate questions. A policy announcement can identify an intended reform without establishing the operative date or treatment of an existing agreement.
The worksheet records the date of your source check so the context remains visible. A copy reused months later needs another status review. It should not carry a permanent assumption that an earlier timetable is still current.
Place the amount in cash planning
Identify when a receipt is realistically expected and the evidence supporting that expectation. An amount associated with completed work can still be unavailable for current payments. Keep that timing separate from a margin or agreed-value measure.
Use the actual forecast to test what happens if receipt comes later than expected. Do not move the money into an earlier week merely because the worksheet arithmetic establishes a balance. A condition or claim is not the same as cash in the account.
Keep any existing receipt allocation traceable. If money was received against several amounts, establish the actual basis before reducing the retained figure. The template does not reconcile a bank account or infer how an ambiguous payment should be divided.
Prepare the project-specific review
The adviser questions cover the governing arrangement, supported amount, release evidence, date certainty, billing treatment and any relevant reform. Provide the actual records so the review can address your contract rather than answer an abstract percentage question.
Separate a missing document from an assumed negative outcome. If evidence is incomplete, name it and assign obtaining it. If parties disagree about the clause, retain the actual positions without writing a template as though one already prevailed.
Use the appropriate process for any formal correspondence or recovery decision. This resource deliberately supplies no automatic demand letter or assertion of entitlement. A factual record can remain useful while the relevant review establishes the next step.
Review one retained amount
Choose one actual amount identified as retained and complete the contract, calculation and release fields. Check the dated official status information and list the first unresolved applicability or evidence question.
Then identify the appropriate reviewer and next contribution. The useful worksheet connects a retained figure with the agreement and facts needed to assess it, without turning an illustrative calculation or proposed reform into a conclusion about your rights.