Greene King acts when unable to verify it complied with
its duty to provide Business Development Manager discussion notes
to tenants under the Code.
What was the issue?
Under the Pubs Code, Business Development
Managers (BDMs) must make a note of all discussions with tied
tenants around rent proposals and rent assessments, repairs and
business planning, and must provide a copy to them within 14
days. It remains important during these difficult times that BDM
conversations should be properly recorded according to the Pubs
Code.
However, owing to a process failure, Greene King could not verify
that a number of its BDM discussion notes had been sent to
tenants.
The Code Compliance Officer (CCO) must verify their pub company’s
compliance with the Code. Greene King’s CCO conducted an internal
investigation and voluntarily told the PCA that the company had
potentially breached its Pubs Code duty 38 times in respect of 16
pubs. The CCO then carried out an impact analysis to understand
whether the affected tenants had suffered any detriment.
This was the second time Greene King had reported an issue to the
PCA with its processes around the issuing of BDM notes. It had
previously reported that some BDM notes had been sent too late
due to an IT system failure.
What did the PCA do?
The PCA has been clear with pub-owning businesses that they
should proactively identify potential breaches of the Code, as
well as understand and put right any impact on tenants. The PCA
was encouraged that Greene King’s CCO had come forward about the
matter and was looking into it further.
But given this was the second time Greene King had reported an
issue, the PCA was concerned about its processes for issuing BDM
notes.
The PCA monitored the outcome of the CCO’s impact analysis to
understand what had happened, if any tenants had been affected,
and the information Greene King had provided to them. The PCA
also considered the steps Greene King had taken to minimise
future breaches and in view of this, the likelihood of the issue
happening again.
What was the outcome?
Greene King sent a letter of explanation to affected tenants
along with reissued BDM notes, and reminded all its tied tenants
about their Pubs Code rights in respect of BDM notes. It has
committed to implement improved controls to minimise the risk of
the error recurring.
Greene King must include information about this issue in its
annual compliance report, which is published on its website.
Greene King is satisfied that there has been no detriment to
tenants, but if any tenants believe they have been affected by
this issue, they should contact Julie Jolly, Greene King’s Code
Compliance Officer at pubscode@greeneking.co.uk in
the first instance and inform the PCA.
The PCA would also welcome hearing from any tied tenants who
experience future issues in relation to the receipt of BDM notes.
