ArbDB Chambers is pleased to highlight the report from the January edition of e-solver

ArbDB Chambers is pleased to highlight the report from the January edition of e-solver, a publication of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb),  on CIArb’s role as the sole provider of Arbitration Referral Services to the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA)

Chambers’ members Robert Sliwinski, Paul Rose and Michael Cover are on the Panel of Arbitrators for Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) Arbitrations.

Since becoming the sole provider in December 2021, CIArb has handled the PCA’s management and administration of its arbitration service, thereby supporting the PCA with its regulatory agenda.

Robert Sliwinski, together with others, has helped to develop and deliver specialist Pubs Code training for arbitrators.

In a recent press release, Catherine Dixon, Director General, CIArb, thanked Robert Sliwinski for supporting CIArb in developing and delivering the training:

“We are pleased to have been able to provide the PCA with a high-quality referral service, and reporting over the past year and look forward to continuing to work with the PCA and our panel of Pubs Code Arbitrators.”

Fiona Dickie, the Pubs Code Adjudicator stated, “It is great to see the progress CIArb has made in the first year of the contract”, adding that, “we have seen a significant reduction in open cases, closer monitoring of the arbitrator standards and an improved published quarterly report.” In the PCA’s three-year strategy published in August last year, Ms Dickie restated her commitment to providing a quality arbitration service for pub companies and tied tenants, a key part of which was delivering Pubs Code training and assessment for arbitrators, building on the arbitrator standards that the PCA already had in place.

The Pubs Code came into effect in 2016 and regulates the relationship between all pub companies owning 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales and their tied tenants. The PCA is responsible for enforcing the Code and providing an arbitration service for disputes between pub companies and tied tenants about Code compliance. The PCA can either arbitrate the dispute itself or appoint another arbitrator to do so. Alternative arbitrators have been appointed in most cases since 2019.