PRESS RELEASE : Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman preferred candidate [September 2023]

The Minister for Local Government, Lee Rowley, confirmed today (4 September 2023) that the government’s preferred candidate to be the next Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is Amerdeep Somal.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is an independent, impartial body which looks at complaints about councils and some other authorities and organisations in England, including education admissions appeal panels and adult social care providers. Ms Somal has also been selected as the preferred candidate for the Chair of the Commission for Local Administration in England, the official body which runs the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman service.

Ms Somal has been selected following a rigorous assessment process conducted in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments. She will undergo a pre-appointment scrutiny hearing by the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee on 18 September.

Biography

Amerdeep Somal is the outgoing Complaints Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer to the Financial Regulators and Chief Commissioner at the Data and Marketing Commission. She sits on the board of the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman. She is also a Judge of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

She was the Independent Assessor to the Financial Ombudsman Service and board member at the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council. She is a former founding Commissioner at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, has held a number of other board roles and her earlier career was as a senior civil servant.