The recently appointed Waterways Ombudsman is settling into his new position. Lucy Wood reports…
JOHN Withington, who assumed the role in the latter part of last year, has a long career in customer experience in the public and regulated sectors. He worked in the administration of legal aid for more
than 20 years, where he built his expertise in assessing the merits of legal disputes and the operational management of high-volume customer interactions. He also led on the Legal Aid Board’s compliance with ISO9000 series quality procedures and setting up its first formal complaints handling systems.
As a director with the Legal Services Commission, he led the strategic planning of publicly funded legal services and the oversight of law firms delivering those services and at the Solicitors Regulation Authority was head of casework and director of authorisation, again leading investigations into, and quality assurance of, legal service providers.
He then spent seven years as a senior ombudsman with the Financial Ombudsman Service, where he led the resolution of insurance disputes and contributed to major regulatory change to drive greater fairness for consumers in the pricing of insurance products.
He went on to lead the creation of a new voluntary regulatory service within the funeral industry as CEO of IFSO and then to work as a leadership consultant creating new quality standards within the sector.
A statement read: “John brings a wealth of relevant operational leadership of customer-facing services, quality assurance and dispute resolution experience to the role of Waterways Ombudsman.”
As reported previously in Towpath Talk, Mr Withington took over from Sarah Daniel after they spent time working together in tandem. He will serve a minimum five-year term and is supported by a committee made up of industry experts and volunteers who represent users of the waterways.
The Waterways Ombudsman is non-statutory and considers complaints about its member organisations, currently the Avon Navigation Trust and the Canal & River Trust. For more information, visit www.waterways-ombudsman.org
- An interview with Mr Withington will appear in an upcoming issue of Towpath Talk.
