Avoiding Contract Disputes: Findings From The 2024 Adjudication Report

It’s a well-known fact for those in the industry that the construction sector continues to rely heavily on adjudication as a primary means of resolving disputes. The 2024 Construction Adjudication Report from King’s College London investigates construction adjudication, highlighting key trends, challenges, and opportunities within the UK’s adjudication landscape.

In this blog, we summarise the report’s findings, share insights on addressing recurring contract dispute causes, and explain how we’ve built our software to help mitigate these issues.

Key Findings from the Report

The 2024 report reflects a maturing adjudication system that is robust – but not without challenges. Here are the critical insights:

• Record Number of Referrals: Participating Adjudicator Nominating Bodies (ANBs) recorded 2,264 adjudication referrals between May 2023 and April 2024—a 9% increase from the previous year.
• Leading Causes of Disputes: The top reasons for disputes include poor contract administration (50%), lack of competence (42%), exaggerated claims and client changes (30%), and adversarial industry culture (25%).
• Cost and Duration: Adjudications are typically completed in 29-42 days Adjudicator hourly rates most commonly fall between £301-£350, with total fees averaging £12,001-£14,000 per case.
• High Compliance with Decisions: 52% of adjudications do not proceed to litigation or arbitration, indicating strong adherence to outcomes.

Our Takeaways: Addressing Root Causes of Disputes

The data underscores recurring pain points in the industry, and are important in identifying areas of common practise and behaviour which are causing recurrent problems. Some of the key takeaways include:

• The importance of Contract Administration: Inadequate contract management remains the leading cause of disputes. Investing in training and adopting contract management tools can significantly reduce errors and delays.
• Raise Competency Standards: Lack of experience and knowledge from project participants is a big contributing factor to project disputes. Upskilling staff and providing comprehensive training can empower stakeholders to navigate complex contract requirements confidently.
• Foster Collaboration: Addressing adversarial industry culture requires a shift towards partnership-based project models. Emphasising clear communication and equitable dispute resolution mechanisms can reduce tensions.
• Leverage Technology: Implementing digital tools for real-time monitoring, payment tracking, and compliance audits can proactively identify and mitigate potential disputes.

How the BI Toolkit addresses these challenges

Smarter Contract Administration

Our contract management platform simplifies processes by:

• Out-of-the-box workflows and templates, designed for industry-leading contract standards like NEC, JCT, and FIDIC
• Automated alerts for key deadlines, such as payment notices and variation submissions
• 60 pre-configured contract KPI reports
• A centralised repository for contracts and correspondence to ensure transparency

Competency Building

Our Academy e-learning modules empower professionals with:

• 1000+ courses offering a wide range of learning available across major contract types such as NEC, JCT and FIDIC.
• Accelerated courses to get your team upskilled in just 12 weeks, with a blended programme of instructor led live workshops and on demand courses.
• Actionable analytics that measure course completion rates, user engagement and overdue learners.

Proactive Dispute Prevention

Our solutions include features to:

• Monitor project performance with dashboards that highlight potential risks.
• Automate compliance checks to ensure adherence to contract terms.
• Generate detailed audit trails to streamline dispute resolution if required.

Promoting Fairness and Collaboration

By standardising workflows and enhancing transparency, our tools foster a culture of trust and accountability between project participants. Features like collaborative platforms for early warning systems encourage open communication and timely problem-solving.

Transform Your Dispute Management Approach

The findings outlined in the LSE’s latest reports might not be new to many who have been around the block in the construction industry, the data it presents shows that these common issues are far from resolved across the board.

But by leveraging innovative tools and strategies found in contract management software, companies can greatly reduce their number of disputes and streamline processes to deliver better projects efficiently.

To learn more about how our solutions can benefit your business, contact us or explore our product offerings.