Adjudication timetable

Adjudication is a fast, independent decision on a dispute under a construction contract. It starts when one side gives a notice of adjudication.

The dates follow section 108 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. If your contract's rules fall short of it, the dates follow Part I of the Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998.

Treat the dates as a planning aid for the selected procedure. Check the actual notice, referral, appointment and any agreed extension against the applicable rules. Record who confirmed each deadline; a calculator cannot confirm valid service or an adjudicator's jurisdiction.

Under the Scheme, the nominating body must communicate its selection of adjudicator within 5 days of receiving the request (paragraph 5). This illustration assumes receipt on the day of the notice; a later request does not move the referral deadline.

Your referral notice sets out the full case and goes to the adjudicator within 7 days of the notice of adjudication (paragraph 7).

The adjudicator must reach a decision within 28 days of the referral. Under the Scheme, those 28 days run from the day the adjudicator receives it (paragraph 19).

The adjudicator can take up to 14 more days if the party who referred the dispute agrees. Both parties can agree a longer extension once the dispute has been referred.

Neither the Act nor the Scheme sets a date for the other side’s response. The adjudicator sets it in the timetable (paragraph 13).

Section 116 of the Act sets how days are counted. A period starts the day after its date, and leaves out Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays. Weekends still count. We apply it to the Act's periods and to the Scheme's, because the Scheme applies through the Act (section 114). If your contract's own rules count days another way, follow them.

Bank holidays come from the Government's list of UK bank holidays for 2025 to 2028, checked on 26 September 2026.

For Scotland, read the Scottish Scheme and its 2011 amendments. Paragraph 19 counts from the date of the referral notice, so enter that date when Scotland is selected. The England-and-Wales Scheme instead refers to receipt by the adjudicator. The model uses the applicable bank holidays. Northern Ireland is outside this timetable's coverage.

The contractual-rules selection shows the statutory baseline without the Scheme nomination assumption. It does not interpret your adjudication clause or replace actual directions, agreed extensions or advice on when a referral was made. Confirm those before using a displayed date as a deadline. Before starting proceedings, a Claim viability review can help organise the disputed issues and evidence. If proceedings are already underway, obtain appropriate specialist advice promptly and keep to the actual timetable.