5.4.  Contractual remedies

Out of 32 projects where information was provided in response to questions about the use of contractual remedies, 88 percent had made deductions from the payment mechanism. Figure 16 shows the contractual remedies used.

Figure 16: Use of contractual remedies

41 percent of authorities said that there had been occasions when the contract allowed them to enforce penalties but they had chosen not to. In most cases authorities said that they had waived penalties when the amounts were small and the consequences were not significant, and they felt that it would promote a good working relationship with the contractor. This approach was taken particularly at the start of the operational period, and on the basis that the contractor accepted that there had been failures and had put in place action plans to resolve matters.