Into extra time for the referees

Ask any football fan and they will wistfully explain that 90 minutes can seem an eternity when your team is up against it facing formidable opposition. One can therefore only wonder how the referees involved in Professional Game Match Officials Ltd [2024] UKSC 29 will have felt having to wait just over 15 months for the Supreme Court’s judgment to be handed down especially with the prospect of indefinite extra time following the decision to remit the case back to the First-tier Tribunal.

While the case does not make new law and we have to wait for the determination of the First-tier Tribunal based on the specific facts the Supreme Court’s judgment was worth the wait for its approval of the recent judgment in Atholl House Productions Limited [2022] EWCA Civ 50. We therefore have principles ratified by the Supreme Court which can be used...