Code Compliance Officers (also known as CCOs) play a vital role in helping protect the rights of tied pub tenants in England and Wales who have Pubs Code rights to ensure fair treatment by their pub company. But who are they, and what do they do?
The Pubs Code regulates the relationship between large pub-owning businesses (owning 500+ tied pubs) and their tied tenants in England and Wales.
Six pub companies fall under the Pubs Code – Admiral, Greene King, Marston’s, Punch Pubs, Star Pubs, and Stonegate.
These companies have a range of duties towards their tied tenants, including transparent pre-tenancy information, evidenced rent offers and fair rent assessments, and the option to switch to a free-of-tie tenancy in certain circumstances.
CCO Independence
The CCO is the person within each pub company with responsibility for ensuring compliance with those duties.
So that tenants can trust that their CCO will act fairly and independently, and get problems resolved in accordance with the Code, the law makes certain requirements of the CCO role.
Within their company line-management structures, they must be independent of Business Development Managers, and the pub company must equip their CCO with the necessary resources to carry out their role effectively and ensure they are suitably qualified to do the job.
The CCO can have an important role in bringing challenge to the pub company’s management where compliance issues and the tied tenant relationship are concerned.
Breaching the Pubs Code presents a risk to the pub company, since as PCA I enforce compliance with the Code, and my powers include investigating suspected breaches.
So as the in-house Pubs Code expert, the pub company certainly has an interest in listening when the CCO provides advice.
Why CCOs are important and how they can help tied tenants
The Pubs Code requires CCOs to be reasonably available to answer Code enquiries from tied tenants (or anyone acting on their behalf).
CCOs can support tied tenants by providing information, and by trying to resolve compliance failures and reviewing related complaints.
The CCO can discuss with tenants the reasons for any decisions the pub company makes under the Pubs Code including, where necessary, contacting the BDM to explore tenant concerns. Sometimes, however, where there are problems in the relationship with the BDM, it can help if the CCO approaches the matter independently to make a decision on behalf of the pub company.
They are also tasked with ensuring tied tenants are aware of their Code rights.
CCOs working with the PCA
The PCA has an ongoing relationship with the six CCOs. We regularly engage with them to understand how they work within their businesses and to discuss good practice.
Recently, I met with all CCOs to talk about how they support and inform tenants about their roles, including their direct involvement in new tenant inductions and regular communications throughout the year.
The CCO reports any Code breaches to the PCA throughout the year and investigates internally to seek to put matters right.
They also have a duty to submit an annual compliance report to the PCA and report on Pubs Code training provided within the pub company, including to BDMs, which helps ensure anyone dealing with the tied tenant is properly equipped to support them.
Sometimes there are grounds for the PCA to reach out to individual CCOs to ensure they are verifying Code compliance in individual cases where a tenant has raised concerns.
Tied tenant survey results
I’ve been encouraging CCOs to do more to raise their profile with their tied tenants over the last year (such as producing video introductions), and there are signs this work is producing results, with 39% of tenants knowing who their CCO is, compared to 25% last year.
While tenant awareness of their CCO has increased, perceptions of how CCOs are performing have worsened since last year’s survey.
This could be because the larger pool of tenants now aware of their CCO do not yet have a sufficiently deep understanding of the role or a relationship with them. I will be keeping a close eye on this in next year’s survey results.
Building your relationship with your CCO
If you are a tied tenant who is having problems in your tied relationship, and you are unsure how to resolve things or how the Pubs Code applies, I recommend that you contact your CCO and see if they can help.
They are critically important in protecting your rights and promoting the Pubs Code. Further information about the role of the CCO, as well as the names and contact details for each of them, can be found on the PCA website.
You can contact the PCA office with any enquiries about your Pubs Code rights.
While those working hard in pubs may not get much of a break over the festivities, I would like to wish you a great trading period and a happy Christmas to all.
This column is intended to aid industry understanding about the pubs code and its impact. Nothing in it should be understood as a substitute for the pubs code legal framework.
