subsequently made for government action. A private members bill was introduced to the House of Commons by Peter Aldous on 9 January 2018 seeking to introduce protection to retention money but did not proceed through parliament. The Build UK industry group wants to secure abolition of retentions by 2025, following an ambition outlined by the Construction Leadership Council in 2014. Build UK put forward proposals that retentions by the main contractor on sub-contractors should be no more onerous than those imposed by the client on the main contractor. They also proposed that retentions should only apply to permanent works, as temporary works are unlikely to lead to defects. The organisation also wants small value contracts (less than £100,000) to become retention-free by 2021, as the risk to the main works is lower for these contracts. Following the 2018 collapse of Carillion there have been increased calls for retention reform. Some propose retention deposit schemes, whereby money is deposited with a third party, though these lead to increased fees and bureaucracy and do not solve disputes between parties over when retention should be released. The Scottish Government began a consultation on retentions in 2019. Its stated that the UK was behind other countries by continuing the practice, despite the matter having been looked into several times by the UK Government. Alternatives include project bank accounts (which are used for all payments from the client and contractor), retention bonds (a form of insurance against defects taken out by the contractor), performance bonds, escrow stakeholder accounts (monies held by a third party), parent company guarantees (guarantee of completion by the main contractor's parent organisation) or trust funds to hold retention monies. Contractual basis The Joint Contracts Tribunal contracts system allowed for a reform of retentions by permitting the employer (client) to hold retention monies in trust. The 1998 revision of the contract allowed the contractor to request that the client hold the money in a separate bank account; it also permitted the use of retention bonds. The 2016 JCT contract allows for retention-free projects. The NEC Engineering and Construction Contract, introduced in 1993, has now allowance for retentions in its core clauses. Retentions can be, and often are, introduced by the client through variant clauses (so-called "x clauses"). The basic contract relies on the spirit of collaboration between parties to minimise defects. Under the 4th edition of the contract (introduced in 2017) there