9. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances.
10. We have discussed this with Dr J to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.
11. In December 2020 UKRI awarded Dr J’s company a grant of £175,000 from its Sustainable Innovation Fund for a project starting on 1 January 2021 and finishing on 31 March 2021. Dr J signed a contract with UKRI accepting the terms and conditions of the grant offer. UKRI later rejected Dr J’s invoices totalling £101,715.74 and also demanded repayment of an advance payment of £24,197.50. UKRI said this is because Dr J did not meet the conditions of the contract.
12. A cause of action is a legal claim that gives a person the right to sue for a remedy in court. Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement is not honoured by one or more of the parties to the contract. The law in England and Wales specifies that anyone bringing a breach of contract claim has six years from the date of the breach in which to do so. Dr J can pursue a breach of contract claim against UKRI.
13. Dr J is seeking financial remedy of over £100,000. There is a clear available legal route which Dr J could use to potentially achieve his desired outcome of financial remedy. The courts are best placed to award compensation, especially larger amounts. We also recognise how important apologies and service improvements are to Dr J. It is possible he could achieve these desired outcomes as a byproduct of legal action.
14. Legal action is therefore something we think Dr J should explore, especially given the financial compensation he is seeking.
15. We asked Dr J if he had any barriers that might prevent him being able to pursue this route. He told us his company’s current financial position did not allow it to support the cost of legal fees. We can see there are legal firms which will take on breach of contract cases on a ‘no win no fee basis’. Dr J therefore has the option of approaching firms which offer a ‘no win no fee’ service.
16. Dr J told us another reason he has not pursued legal action is because he is concerned it would not be successful. We explained earlier we do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.
17. As set out above, the law prevents us from investigating a complaint where the complainant could pursue legal action, unless we think it would unreasonable. In this case, Dr J has a clear legal route, and it appears there are no barriers to him or pursuing this.
18. A solicitor will be able to advise Dr J whether he has a case, and a court would be able to carefully consider and assess to what extent Dr J was entitled to rely on UKRI’s verbal advice to him and whether it was clear under the agreement that a formal extension request was required. It would also be able to consider what the impact of that was on him, and determine accountability, including awarding an appropriate amount of compensation if applicable.
19. In summary, we consider it is reasonable for Dr J to pursue legal remedy. Dr J can return to us if he is unable to get legal representation, or if, following legal action, he has outstanding outcomes we can achieve.
20. If Dr J chooses to bring the complaint back to us, we would advise he does so as promptly as possible. This is because we have a one-year time-limit by which to consider complaints (a complaint must be made to an MP, who then passes it to us, within one year of the date the complainant first became aware of the issue). We have discretion to set this time-limit to one side if there are strong reasons to do so. We will consider the time it has taken us to consider the complaint and any other delays outside of his control.
21. We are sorry to hear of the difficulties Dr J has had relating to this matter, and the impact it has had on his company.