Fiona Dickie re-appointed as pubs code adjudicator

The PCA is responsible for enforcing the statutory pubs code, which regulates the relationship between large pub-owning businesses and their tied tenants in England and Wales.

On her re-appointment, Dickie said: “I am delighted to be reappointed as the pubs code adjudicator which affords the unique opportunity to continue to contribute to the code’s positive impact.

“Much progress has been made in restoring balance in the relationship between tied pub tenants and pub-owning businesses through embedding cultural change in the tied sector so that tenants’ businesses can thrive.

“I am proud of the PCA’s success in reducing arbitration cases and successfully completing the first investigation under the code."

Promoting the Code

She added: “I will continue the important work to promote transparency and responsible compliance behaviours and, through improved communication and early engagement with the sector, help to avoid formal disputes while ensuring tenants’ code rights are protected.”

The PCA has powers to arbitrate individual disputes about the code, investigate suspected breaches by pub-owning businesses and impose sanctions, including financial penalties, when there is non-compliance.

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

Dickie was appointed as the PCA in May 2020 for a four-year term, ending on 2 May 2024.

Career history

Prior to that, she was the deputy pubs code adjudicator from November 2017 until May 2020.

Dickie 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.

Dickie has been a mediator in civil disputes since 2005 and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2018.