What is the difference between JCT Relevant Events and Relevant Matters?
Relevant Events concern extensions of time; Relevant Matters concern loss and expense. An event may qualify under both lists, but the tests and submissions remain separate.
By Jack Butler-Kettle · Updated
Guidance for England and Wales. Check the contract, amendments and facts that apply to your job.
The answer
Use the lists and procedures in your own subcontract. JCT subcontracts may use the terms Relevant Sub-contract Events and Relevant Sub-contract Matters. Check the form, edition, selected options and amendments rather than borrowing a main-contract clause number.
For time, establish a qualifying event and its effect on completion. For money, establish the relevant contractual basis, notice compliance and resulting additional cost. JCT's explanation of the 2016 provisions illustrates the separate loss-and-expense procedure. The 2024 launch guidance identifies revisions and optional matters; the lists are not identical across editions.
A granted extension is useful evidence of the time position, but does not establish every day or cost claimed. Delay and disruption recovery connects the financial assessment to the specific event, records and compensable period. The EOT calculation explanation covers the separate programme question.
Example
The facts
A subcontractor has five days of weather delay and three days affected by an instructed change. Assume its terms allow time for both, but money only for the change.
What happens
The time assessment tests the effect of both events on completion; it does not automatically add their durations.
The cost submission isolates the change-related expenditure and the required notices. It excludes weather costs on the assumed terms.
The subcontractor records the time decision and cost assessment separately, including any amounts already paid in the variation.
What this shows
A single combined claim for eight days of time and money would obscure the different contractual tests. These assumptions are illustrative, not a universal JCT rule.
Sources
- JCT Design and Build and JCT Standard Building Contracts 2016: Part II (2017). The Joint Contracts Tribunal.
- JCT 2024 In-Person Launch Event presentation (2024), Time Issues. The Joint Contracts Tribunal.