Independent, practical help for litigants in person in England & Wales.
209 articles · All articles
Written by John Barwell
The ICO can investigate a data breach and fine the organisation – but it cannot award the victim a penny. Compensation only comes from a civil claim under Article 82 of the UK GDPR and section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018, which expressly covers distress. This guide explains what a claimant must prove, what Lloyd v Google changed, realistic quantum for distress-only cases, and whether your breach is a court claim, an ICO complaint, or both.
Written by John Barwell
Before you invest months in the final complaint stage, read the map: the MP filter for government complaints, the one-year time limits, the 25% first-step pass rate, and why the Ombudsman’s £426,212 year of financial recommendations tells you what “winning” actually looks like.
Written by John Barwell
More than £60 million of client money went missing when Axiom Ince collapsed in October 2023. This analysis traces the SRA’s post-collapse consumer protection programme through its own consultation and response papers: the client money reforms now awaiting approval, the Compensation Fund decisions already taken, and the rules a client of a failed firm can rely on today.
Written by John Barwell
The structural reform campaigners proposed has not happened: the Office of the Whistleblower Bill fell when the 2024–26 session ended, and no whistleblowing bill is before the current Parliament. But the law has not stood still — sexual harassment is now an express qualifying disclosure, the prescribed-persons list has been expanded twice, and tribunal time limits are about to double. An evidence-led state of play, measured against what reformers asked for.
Written by John Barwell
Most of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 is now the law in force. This plain-English guide sets out what has actually changed for subject access requests, data-protection complaints and the regulator — and what has not.
Written by John Barwell
The EAT overturned the strike-out of race discrimination complaints in Waithaka v Barclays. The judgment explains why different managers, incidents and forms of treatment may still form part of one continuing state of affairs for Equality Act time-limit purposes.
Written by John Barwell
A complaint can contain a detailed chronology and extensive evidence while leaving the central questions undefined. An issue map separates the issues, positions, evidence, findings and outcomes that require a decision.
Written by John Barwell
Templates can improve clarity and consistency. The accountability problem begins when standard wording replaces engagement with the individual complaint, evidence and circumstances.
Written by John Barwell
A final response may close a file, but that does not always mean the complaint has been answered. Administrative closure belongs to the process. Substantive resolution belongs to the issue.
Written by John Barwell
A decision does not need to discuss every document. But where central evidence disappears from the reasoning, the person affected may be unable to understand how the issue, evidence, finding and outcome connect.
