Financial Ombudsman Service appoints Deputy Chief Ombudsman and Chief Operating Officer

Notes to editors

James Dipple-Johnstone – short biographical note

James held various senior roles in the UK Civil Service leading teams working in areas of government policy in a period that lasted over ten years. In 2008, James was appointed the Operations Director for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, UK, leading over 200 staff dealing with complaints of maladministration by UK Government and NHS organisations. In 2012, James joined the Independent Police Commission in England as Commissioner for North West England Police Forces, with independent oversight and leadership of police counter corruption, use of force and misconduct investigations. In 2015, James joined the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (England and Wales) as Director of Investigation and Supervision and led a team that supervised the legal sector, dealing with allegations of professional misconduct, money laundering and fraud by Solicitors. James joined the Information Commissioners Office in 2017 as Deputy Commissioner leading their regulatory services. He has also held the role of Independent Assessor, Ombudsman Services, supporting the board and independently assessing complaints of how staff dealt with investigations.

Karl Khan – short biographical note

Karl has worked as a Senior Research Fellow for several universities, undertaking and overseeing research, securing funding for major research programmes, and has had papers published in International Scientific Journals. With experience in the private and public sector, in 1999, Karl moved to the Child Support Agency as Resource Planning and New Scheme Implementation Manager, developing overall operational resource plans and delivering implementation of IT systems and people changes. In 2011, Karl moved to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission as Central Operations Director, accountable for service delivery, resourcing and budget management. In 2014, he worked at the Department for Work and Pensions, in the role of Director, Operations Planning and Performance where he was accountable for the operations business plan and resourcing. In 2018, Karl moved to HMRC, as Interim Director General, Customer Services Group, he was accountable for strategy and delivery of customer facing operations and budgets. In 2021, Karl took a secondment as Director, Operations Performance and Improvement at the UK Health Security Agency, in response to the pandemic successfully leading the team that implemented community testing to all local authorities in England.

About the Financial Ombudsman Service

The Financial Ombudsman Service was set up by Parliament to resolve individual complaints between financial businesses and their customers on a fair and reasonable basis, as an alternative to the courts. It can look into problems involving most types of money matters. It is committed to sharing insight and experience to encourage fairness and confidence in financial services.