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17 October 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8135 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , Housing
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Civil way: 17 October 2025

Judge costs MoJ £3K; latest FPR PD update; new housing hazard law

TRIBUNAL JUDGE KEPT WAITING

When the Pensions Ombudsman makes an award for non-financial injustice caused by maladministration, how much are you likely to score? Nothing in a nominal injustice case. Otherwise, £500 if significant; £1,000 if serious; £2,000 if severe; and more than £2,000 if exceptional.

In Mr T v Ministry of Justice and XPS Pensions Consulting Ltd (CAS-45233-Y4G1), the applicant was a fee-paid tribunal judge and a member of the fee-paid judicial pension scheme. He received a benefit statement which was wrong, and delivered to the administrators XPS over 300 pages of documents to show why. It was all sorted—after six years. He sought £10,000 for exceptional distress and inconvenience, was offered £1,000 by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which was then increased to £1,500, and was ultimately awarded £3,000 by an ombudsman’s adjudicator, which T maintained was insufficient. His award, he claimed, should reflect the time spent by him as a result of the maladministration based on his daily sitting rate. But the ombudsman

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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