Retention

Retention that never drifts out of step

The number on your dashboard and the number on the notice you sent the client have to be the same number. When they are not, the conversation stops being about the works.

Full rate during the works, half rate after practical completion
Release date one year after practical completion, unless you set your own
No default rate: the rate is the one you enter from your contract

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Retention

Position at PC-04

Rate now

2.5%

Held

£4,205

Release

7 Sep 27

Practical completion7 Sep 2026

Rate before PC5.0%

Rate after PC2.5%

Rectification period12 months

Enter the practical completion date and QScope applies the right rate from that valuation onwards, without you touching the setting.

The rate changes itself at practical completion

Under JCT the retention rate halves at practical completion and falls away at the end of the rectification period.

Everyone knows that. What goes wrong is remembering to do it in the month it happens. Enter the practical completion date and QScope applies the right rate from that valuation onwards, without you touching the setting.

Reports

Held on what was deducted, not on what was approved

Retention is a deduction from a payment.

Composition shown under the figure, certificates and variations separately
Release date shown next to the amount, not buried in settings
Retention notice prints for the client on your letterhead

Reports

Retention notice to client

Retention held on certificates£4,205.75

Retention held on variations£0.00

Released at practical completion(£2,102.87)

Held to end of rectification£2,102.88

Half of the retention held was released at practical completion on 7 Sep 2026. The balance is due for release on 7 Sep 2027.

Client Valuations

Retention is only ever a deduction from a certificate

There is nothing to retain from until a payment is certified.

Deducted on the certificate, at the rate for the date
Gross this period, then retention, then net due
No line can be certified past its contract value

Client Valuations

Interim certificate PC-04

This period, exc VAT£24,180.00

Less retention at 5%(£1,209.00)

Due this certificate, exc VAT£14,031.00

Retention is the £1,209 deducted here. The held figure of £4,205.75 is the sum of those deductions across every certificate to date.

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Completion

The certificate is what actually halves the rate

The rate does not fall on a date typed into a settings field.

The practical completion certificate governs the rate, not the settings
Half the retention released on the certified date
Release date read from the practical completion date in Settings

Completion

Certificate of practical completion

Certified

7 Sep 26

Rate now

2.5%

Released

£2,102

Rate before certificate5.0%

Rate after certificate2.5%

Rectification period12 months

Balance released7 Sep 2027

Enter the certified date and QScope halves the rate from that valuation, starts the rectification period and releases the first half of the retention, all from the one date.

Final account

The release closes out the final account

Retention does not disappear at the final account, it is added back.

Certified to date deducted gross, not net
Retention release shown as its own line
Half at practical completion, half at the end of the rectification period

Final account

Statement, 11 Essex Road

Less certified to date, gross(£84,115.00)

Add retention release+£4,205.75

Final balance due, excl VAT£137,941.08

The retention held is added back explicitly, so the client can see the security returned rather than quietly netted off the account.

Retention

The retention notice and the release certificate

Two documents carry retention out of the job: the Retention Notice and the Retention Release Certificate.

Retention Notice: held per valuation, then the first moiety at practical completion and the second at the end of the defects period
Retention Release Certificate: total held, both moieties, and the sum released by this certificate
Signed as certified by the contract administrator and received by the contractor

Retention

Retention Release Certificate

Total retention held£7,585.97

First moiety, at practical completion£3,792.99

Second moiety, end of defects period£3,792.98

Released by this certificatestage you select

The certificate leaves the stage and the amount released for you to state, because the release is a decision under the contract, not a date the program takes for you.

Retention

Sectional completion releases retention by section

Where the contract has sections, each section releases its own retention on its own dates.

Enter the value, completion date and rectification period of each section.
Half the retention on a section is released at its practical completion, the rest at the end of its rectification period.
QScope warns when the section values do not add up to the contract sum.

Retention

Sectional completion releases retention by section

In the program

Sectional completionwindow

+ Add sectionwindow

Value of sectionwindow

Contract completionwindow

Revised completionwindow

On screen: “Sectional completion”, “+ Add section”, “Value of section”, “Contract completion”.

Every other function on the Retention screen

11 functions the sections above do not cover, each as it works in the program.

Functions 1 to 6

01Choose whether the deposit is subject to retention and at what rate.

02Issuing the Certificate of Making Good releases the remaining retention.

03When retention comes back on a certificate, it is shown as Retention released, not as a negative deduction.

04The retention rate is fixed on each certificate when it is issued, and a later change is flagged on the card.

05A Certificate of Partial Possession releases half the retention on that part on the day it is taken over.

06The second moiety is the balance of the fund, so the two releases always add up to the penny.

Functions 7 to 11

07After practical completion, reports show the effective rate next to the contract rate.

08The project dashboard flags the retention release date when it is within 30 days or has passed.

09The dashboard reminds you to set the retention rate while it is blank.

10A certificate cannot be issued cleanly with the retention rate left blank.

11The Contract Register shows which certificate releases each half of the retention.

Who it is for

The same retention, held from four chairs

You are applying

Your money sits in somebody’s drawer

Retention comes off every application you make, and half of it sits there long after handover. Your job is making sure both releases actually arrive.

Applying for payment

the same measurement

You are certifying

You hold it, and you must release it

You hold retention on certified value and release it on the dates the contract carries. The notice you issue has to match the balance you actually hold.

Certifying payment

You are doing both

Held on you upstream, held by you down

Retention is held on you upstream and held by you downstream, and nobody chases either release on your behalf.

Doing both yourself

You are reporting

You check the fund before it releases

You check the retention position before recommending a release: what is held, what has been released, and whether the fund is where the contract says.

Recommending a drawdown

The client, the architect and the tenderer are not on this list. They are the people you let in on a link: they see the one document you sent them, answer it, and that answer is written into the record. No account, no licence, no charge, on every plan.

FAQs

The questions this page raises most often, answered without a sales pitch at the end.

Whatever your contract says. QScope fills in no default on purpose: you enter the rate from your contract, and it halves at practical completion.

No, and it usually does not. Each subcontract carries its own rate, and the difference between what you hold down the chain and what is held from you is part of the cash position on the dashboard.

On the release date in your project settings. If you leave it empty, QScope sets it one year after practical completion. The project list warns you as that date approaches.

Normally not, and QScope lets you set a zero retention rate on an individual variation for exactly that reason.

From the blog

The part nobody teaches you, written down

Three pieces from the same corner of a contract as this page, answered at length and without a sales pitch at the end.

Worker in hi-vis using a tablet outside a finished modern building

Retention20/08/2026

When should they stop taking retention off my payments?

Many contracts cap the total held. Once the cap is reached the deductions should stop, usually around the point the job is sixty per cent done, and nobody will tell you the month it happens.

Read now

Two people in hi-vis vests working over drawings with a calculator and ear defenders

Retention19/08/2026

What is retention in construction, and when do you get it back?

Your money, held back as security that you will come back and fix defects. What the percentage is, when each half is released, and why holding it after the job is done is simply late payment.

Read now

Worker in a hard hat measuring a door frame while a colleague holds drawings

Retention03/08/2026

The client will not release my retention. How do I get it back?

Retention comes back on two triggers your contract names, and it stays stuck for three usual reasons: nobody asked, the triggering certificate never got issued, or the money is quietly funding a different argument. Which one is yours, and the letter for each.

Read now

All 174 pieces

Keep reading

The three parts this page leans on

Valuations and certificates Interim valuations and payment certificates by percentage or fixed sum, with retention and previously certified. UK JCT and NEC, plus FIDIC certificates. See how it works Final account From the adjusted contract sum to the final balance under JCT, or the FIDIC Final Statement and Final Payment Certificate, every adjustment on its own line. See how it works Statutory payment dates Enter a due date and QScope returns the pay-less and final date deadlines for JCT, NEC or the Scheme, or FIDIC IPC and payment dates in calendar days. See how it works