Dr Lucy Catherine Hawking v The Nursing and Midwifery Council
| Court | First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) |
| Judgment Date | 01 July 2026 |
| Neutral Citation | [2026] UKFTT 982 (GRC) |
| Date | 01 July 2026 |
| Year | 2026 |
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2026
NCN: [2026] UKFTT 00982 (GRC)
Case Reference: FT/EJ/2025/0011
First-tier Tribunal
(General Regulatory Chamber)
Enforcement
Heard on: 22nd April 2026 by Cloud Video Platform
Decision given on: 01 July 2026
Before
JUDGE ARMSTRONG-HOLMES
JUDGE SAWARD
Between
DR LUCY CATHERINE HAWKING
Applicant
and
THE NURSING AND MIDWIFERY COUNCIL
Respondent
Representation:
For the Appellant: Professor Mark Engelman of counsel
For the Respondent: Mr John Fitzsimons of counsel
Decision: The application is refused.
REASONS
2
Background and Chronology
1. This is an application to certify an offence or offences to the Upper Tribunal relating to an information
rights appeal in this Tribunal with the reference FT/EA/2025/0091. The application was first submitted
on 21st February 2025 following the Respondent’s failure to comply with a number of the Tribunal’s
directions, which included the directions of 7th April 2025, 7th August 2025 and 18th September 2025.
2. Permission was subsequently granted by the Tribunal on 24th November 2025 and 23rd February 2025
for the application to include subsequent breaches of the Tribunal’s directions of 6th October 2025 and
24th November 2025, and for the failure to attend a case management hearing before the Chamber
President on the second of those dates.
3. The appeal itself, which was heard on 21st April 2026, related to an appeal against the Information
Commissioner’s (“the Commissioner”) decision that the Respondent did not hold any further
information within the scope of the Applicant’s request for information in the following terms:
“I am looking for historic details of registration of nurses for two individuals, specifically the
date they left the register of nurses. One is [NAME REDACTED] who registered on 1 Dec 1959
under her maiden name. For reasons of fact checking a biography, I would like to know when
[NAME REDACTED] deregistered as a nurse. The second name is [NAME REDACTED], DOB
Jan 1950. I do not have the date of registration but would like to know both the date of registration
and the date of deregistration. This is for the same purpose of historical accuracy in fact checking
biographical details.”
4. On 7th April 2025, Judge Sanger issued case management directions which required that the
Respondent was by 30th April 2025 to provide the Tribunal with a witness statement and/or written
submissions which answered a number of questions as follows:
(i) What is the regulatory framework under which the requested information is or was
held?
(ii) How have you acquired records from previous regulatory bodies and how is that
information held now?
(iii) How is/was the information held and who has access to it?
(iv) What records are held regarding nurses? How long are records held?
(v) Does the answer to this question differ with considering information held prior to the
introduction of the online register in 2008?
(vi) What information do you hold on this named individual?
(vii) Is the organisation under a duty to pass information of this nature onto the National
Archives?
5. The Respondent failed to comply with those directions by 30th April 2025 as required.
6. On 7th August 2025, Judge Saward noted the failure of the Respondent to comply with the previous
directions of Judge Sanger and granted a retrospective extension of time for the Respondent to comply
with those directions by 29th August 2025. Judge Saward further directed that a Compliance Hearing
would take place on 18th September 2025 at 11am. Judge Saward confirmed that the hearing would be
cancelled if both parties provided the Tribunal with completed Certificates of Compliance by 12th
September 2025, which confirmed that the matter was ready for an appeal hearing. The directions
confirmed that “All parties are required to attend or be represented at the Compliance Hearing unless
and until they are notified that it has been cancelled.”.
7. The Responded failed to answer any of the questions by the extended date of 29 th August 2025 and
additionally failed to provide the Tribunal with its completed Certificate of Compliance.
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting