ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Damian Taylor, Olga Ladrowska, Christy Conlon and Nathan Barrow, Slaughter and May
13. Arbitration 13.1 Laws Regarding the Conduct of Arbitration
13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award Arbitral awards are considered final and binding. Awards can only be challenged in the courts on three limited grounds set out in the Arbitration Act 1996: • challenge to the tribunal’s substantive jurisdiction, including as to the existence or validity of the arbi- tration agreement, the constitution of the tribunal or the scope of the arbitration agreement; • challenge on the grounds of a serious irregularity affecting the arbitration proceedings, the award or the tribunal that will cause substantial injustice; or • appeal on a point of law. Whilst the first two grounds are mandatory and cannot be contracted out of, appeal on a point of law is a non- mandatory ground that parties can agree to exclude, either in their arbitration agreement or through their choice of arbitration rules. Challenges can be made to either the final award or to a preliminary award on jurisdiction, although amend- ments introduced by the Arbitration Act 2025 limit the scope of such challenges by preventing parties from raising new arguments that were not advanced before the tribunal. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration The Arbitration Act 1996 sets out a summary proce- dure for the enforcement of domestic and foreign arbi- tral awards, which provides, among other things, that an arbitral award may, with the court’s permission, be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order of the court. The enforcing party will need to apply to the court for permission by submitting an arbitration claim form, attaching a witness statement, the award and the arbitration agreement. This is generally done without giving notice to the other party. If permission to enforce is granted, a judgment will be entered in the terms of the award and the same powers that are available to enforce an ordinary court judgment will be available. Where a party can show that a tribunal lacks substantive jurisdiction to make an award, leave to enforce will be refused.
Arbitration is primarily governed by the Arbitration Act 1996 (as amended by the Arbitration Act 2025), which applies to all domestic and international arbitrations where the seat of the arbitration is England and Wales or Northern Ireland. Certain provisions in the Arbitra- tion Act 1996 – such as stays of legal proceedings, enforcement of awards and the English court’s pow- ers in support of arbitration – apply even if the seat of arbitration is located outside of England and Wales or Northern Ireland, or if no seat has been designated or determined. In addition, certain areas of arbitration law, such as confidentiality in arbitration, are not codi- fied in the Arbitration Act 1996 and are derived from case law. See the England & Wales Law & Practice chapter in the International Arbitration Global Practice Guide for more detail. The 2025 amendments refine and modernise the stat- utory framework, including by codifying the arbitra- tor’s duty of disclosure, introducing an express power for tribunals to dispose of issues on a summary basis, and clarifying that, in the absence of express party agreement, the law governing the arbitration agree- ment is the law of the seat. The Arbitration Act 1996 provides for the recogni- tion and enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards, as well as the enforcement of arbitral awards under the New York Convention 1958. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration The Arbitration Act 1996 does not define the mean- ing of arbitrability but, consistent with the New York Convention 1958, it recognises the right of the court to refuse recognition or enforcement of an award where the matter is not capable of settlement by arbitration. While commercial disputes are generally arbitrable, certain matters cannot be settled by arbitration for public policy reasons – eg, actions for bankruptcy and insolvency orders, as well as criminal cases, and employment matters where the employee has a statu- tory right to be heard by an employment tribunal.
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