Ombudsman Services appoints new chair

Ombudsman Services, which deals with unresolved consumer complaints, has appointed Lord Tim Clement-Jones as its new chair, effective immediately.

Clement-Jones has extensive experience in both the communications and legal sectors, and one of his career highlights was his contribution to the Shopping Hours Reform Campaign and the subsequent Sunday Trading Act 1993, which improved consumers’ access to products and services in retail, the Ombudsman Services said in a press statement.

In addition, the Ombudsman Services has named three non-executive directors, Sir Leigh Lewis, Michele Ibbs and Lisa Tennant.

Commenting on the appointments, Ombudsman Services chief Lewis Shand said: “These high calibre appointments to our board demonstrate Ombudsman Services’ continuing commitment to high-quality complaints handling.

“I am very proud to welcome Lord Tim Clement-Jones as our new Chair. His extensive leadership experience will help us to navigate and grow at a time where alternative dispute resolution is becoming ever more important to both companies and consumers.

“Sir Leigh, Michele and Lisa will also bring a wealth of experience that will help us to continue our important work at this exciting time, where consumer rights are high on the public agenda.”

The service has found that retail continues to be the most complained about sector, with 13 million complaints made about retail in 2015, with the organisation looking into 23 percent of the total complaints, making it the largest sector it deals with.