Julie Mellor to stand aside as Chair as and when Public Services Ombudsman Bill receives royal assent

It was announced today that Julie Mellor, Chair of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, will stand aside from her position as and when the Public Services Ombudsman Bill receives royal assent.

Julie will continue to lead the Board and support the Executive in the radical transformation of our service over the next 18 to 24 months.

Since Julie Mellor joined the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in 2012 she has been making the case to create a single Public Service Ombudsman covering all public services for England including health and social care and UK non-devolved services. The Bill to make this happen was announced in last month's Queen's speech.

On announcement of her decision Julie Mellor said:

I believe this new ombudsman service will be better for the public, better for Parliament and better value for money. I want the new service to have the best possible chance of success and to achieve this it's vital that there is continuity in leadership during the transition to the new organisation.  That's why I have decided to stand aside as and when the Bill receives royal assent, enabling Parliament to make an appointment to the twin roles of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and Chair elect of the new service.

'Creation of the new service is one of three things we set out to achieve three years ago. The second was to dramatically increase investigation volume to meet demand. Thanks to our staff and the Executive Team this has now been achieved with an increase from 400 to 5000 investigations and resolutions a year, giving more people final decisions on their unresolved complaint.

'Our third goal is to introduce a set of promises to our users about what they can expect from our service and a level of consistency and transparency about our investigation methods to give people greater confidence in our decisions whether we uphold their complaint or not. This is now our focus and my priority is to support the Executive and staff in delivering this ahead of transition to the new service.'

Notes to editors

  1. For more information please contact press office Steven Mather on 0300 061 4324 or email steven.mather@ombudsman.org.uk or contact senior press officer Marina Soteriou on 0300 061 4996 or email marina.soteriou@ombudsman.org.uk
  2. The timetable for the passage of the Public Service Ombudsman Bill is determined by Parliament.
  3. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman makes formal decisions on complaints which haven't been resolved locally by the NHS in England or by UK government departments and their agencies, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, the DVLA, the Passport Office and the Highways Agency.