Mark Robinson has previously suggested figure on government contracts should be 5%

Scape chief executive Mark Robinson is planning to meet up with a group of Labour MPs before Christmas to push the case for mandating margins in public sector contracts.

Robinson has previously suggested that contractors’ margins on public sector jobs should be fixed at an agreed figure with Robinson and his deputy Caroline Compton-James both suggesting it should be 5%.

They have said clients would have transparency and contractors could be left to get on and build what they have been asked to without worrying about post-project disputes.

mark robinson

Scape chief Mark Robinson says fixing margins would give contractors greater certainty on jobs

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Robinson, whose organisation operates with a buying power of £18bn and is actively performance managing over 1,800 live projects, said he expected the meeting to take place at the House of Commons in the next couple of weeks.

He said: “There’s no reason why we can’t include a fixed margin [on public sector jobs]. One of the things I want to discuss with them is how we prevent another Carillion, another ISG.

“Contractors need some support and if I can raise the issue [about margins] politically, then I will.”