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FOCUS — Project bank accounts The Scottish Government is increasing its efforts to ensure that PBAs benefit every firm in the construction supply chain Rudi Klein, barrister and Chief Executive, SEC Group Scotland Len Bunton FRICS FCIArb, Hon FRIAS, SEC Group Scotland A LMOST four years ago, the Scottish Government mandated the use of PBAs for all public bodies in receipt of government funding, and also advised others such as local authorities to follow suit. When launching the policy, the Scottish Government was adamant that all subcontractors and sub-subcontractors must benefit from the use of PBAs — all subcontractors had to be paid through a PBA if the value of their works was at least 1% of the value of the main contract works. Where subcontractors were excluded, they were still able to request that their payments were made through the PBA. This new policy applied to all building projects over £4m but last year this was reduced to £2m. As a leading member of SEC Group Scotland, the Electrical Contractors’ Association for Scotland (SELECT) had long campaigned for the introduction of project bank accounts (PBAs). Now they’re up and running, two industry experts explain how the Scottish Government is increasing its efforts to ensure they benefit every firm in the supply chain. FORGING STRONGER LINKS www.thefis.org 27