In the first two months of 2013 twelve cases were reported that dealt with Arbitration Act 1996 (“AA”) issues. Of these twelve cases, a quarter involved applications for leave to appeal under s.69(3) AA 1996 and a further quarter dealt with applications under s.68 (serious irregularities). The statistics are not surprising. The AA 1996 has now been in force for a little over 16 years and a substantial body of case law exists. However, when a party loses a case it may feel that it has no option but to challenge the award. There are often commercial reasons for this and/or the unsuccessful party may also feel genuinely aggrieved by the award. The recent case law dealing with leave to appeal has, however, shown that challenging an award under s.69 AA 1996 is no easy option. This article considers the grounds on which leave to appeal an arbitrator’s award will be granted. The courts, when considering an application for leave to appeal, place high hurdles for any applicant to overcome. Leave to appeal under s.69(3) was not granted in any of the reported cases on Bailii up to 1 March 2013 this year. However, it is evident from the reported cases that some applications for leave to appeal are successful, especially where the issue relates to matters of general public importance: Dalmare SpA v Union Maritime Ltd & Anor.