The government has appointed Fiona Dickie as Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA).

The PCA has responsibility for enforcing the statutory Pubs Code, which governs the relationship between large pub-owning businesses and their tied tenants in England and Wales.

As PCA, Ms Dickie will have powers to arbitrate individual disputes about breaches of the Pubs Code and market rent only options – when tenants opt to only pay rent to the pub company, rather than have any further ties. She will also be able to investigate suspected breaches of the code by pub owning businesses and impose sanctions, including financial penalties, when there is non-compliance.

The PCA also provides advice and guidance about the code and leads a team based in Birmingham.

About Fiona Dickie

Fiona Dickie was appointed as the Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator (DPCA) in November 2017 and reappointed in October 2019. Fiona was called to the Bar in 1993. She has been a Vice President of the Valuation Tribunal for England from 2009 until 2020 and was appointed Judge of First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in 2013 (after serving as a Lawyer Chair of its predecessor tribunal from 2006). She was also appointed as a Road User Charging Adjudicator in 2004. Fiona has been a mediator in civil disputes since 2005 and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2018.

Additional information

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment (SBEE) Act 2015, requires the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to introduce a statutory Pubs Code and to appoint a Pubs Code Adjudicator. The code governs the relationship between large pub-owning businesses (those that own 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales) and their tied tenants.

Fiona Dickie will take up her appointment for a 4-year term when the current PCA’s term ends in May 2020 and she will step down as DPCA at that point.

This appointment is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and has been made in line with the Governance Code for Public Appointments.