Adjudication Staff
Adjudication Managers
Fiona Draper
fiona.draper@oiahe.org.uk
Fiona joined the OIA in April 2005 as an Assistant Adjudicator and became an Adjudication Manager in 2009. She now also has responsibility for the allocation of cases to adjudicators. Fiona qualified as a solicitor in 1977. After a career in private practice, she moved to the Adjudicator’s Office in 1996, where she specialised in casework on Inland Revenue complaints, including many complex tax matters.
Siobhan Hohls
siobhan.hohls@oiahe.org.uk
Siobhan joined the OIA in June 2006 as an Assistant Adjudicator and became an Adjudication Manager in 2010. She is a qualified attorney admitted under the rules of the High Court of South Africa. Before moving to the UK in April 2006 she worked with an established legal firm in South Africa.
Anne Lee
anne.lee@oiahe.org.uk
Anne joined the OIA in September 2006 as an Assistant Adjudicator and became an Adjudication Manager in 2009. She is a qualified solicitor and has also worked in Higher Education. She has taught undergraduates and postgraduates as well as having worked in university administration. She has been employed by legal practices, as well as in charities and public sector organisations, in a variety of civil litigation specialisms.
Jo Nuckley
jo.nuckley@oiahe.org.uk
(currently on maternity leave)
Jo joined the OIA in July 2006 as an Assistant Adjudicator and became an Adjudication Manager in 2009. Before then, she worked at the National Archives as Deputy Data Protection Officer, and then as the Lead Freedom of Information Assessor. Jo decided when information in historic government records could be made available to the public, and had a particular interest in the interaction between FOI and Data Protection legislation.
Helen Walton
helen.walton@oiahe.org.uk
(currently on maternity leave)
Helen joined the OIA in June 2006 and became an Adjudication Manager in 2009. She is a qualified Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand where she practised employment law for several years. From 2005 Helen spent a year in the Client Relations Office of the Law Society of Scotland handling complaints against Scottish Solicitors.
Chris Pinnell
chris.pinnell@oiahe.org.uk
(maternity cover)
Chris joined the OIA in December 2007 as an Assistant Adjudicator. He worked for the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner from its inception in 2001 and helped to introduce and develop many regulatory processes, including its complaints handling procedures.
Adjudication Team
Zoe Babb
zoe.babb@oiahe.org.uk
Zoë joined the OIA in April 2009. Prior to joining she dealt with complaints for a local authority and has had previous roles at the University of Reading including Disability Officer.
Isobel Brown
isobel.brown@oiahe.org.uk
Isobel has been at the OIA since March 2004 and is now the Compliance Manager and an Assistant Adjudicator. She was previously the First Contact Manager. Prior to working at the OIA, Isobel was a secondary school science teacher and Acting Head of Faculty. She was responsible for training student teachers and mentoring newly qualified teachers.
Claire Churchill
claire.churchill@oiahe.org.uk
Claire joined the OIA in April 2010 as an Assistant Adjudicator. She has had previous roles in complaints investigation for the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman and the Solicitors Regulation Authority, where she dealt with regulatory and compliance issues involving solicitors.
Julia Hawkins
julia.hawkins@oiahe.org.uk
Julia joined the OIA in April 2009. She has previously worked at the Financial Services Ombudsman and most recently as Special Projects Manager at the Ombudsman for Estate Agents.
Tanya Kynaston
tanya.kynaston@oiahe.org.uk
Tanya joined the OIA in February 2010 as an Assistant Adjudicator. She has had previous roles in the Exams and Assessments offices of the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of Reading and Royal Holloway, University of London and she has experience of other areas of university administration such as admissions and accommodation services.
Barry McHale
barry.mchale@oiahe.org.uk
Barry joined the OIA in April 2010 as an Assistant Adjudicator. Barry previously worked as an Investigator at the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and as a Case Manager with the Healthcare Commission. Barry has also been contracted to various companies within the private sector handling financial services complaints.
Helena Moore
helena.moore@oiahe.org.uk
Helena joined the OIA as an Assistant Adjudicator in March 2008. She qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and has worked in private practice specialising in corporate law.
Joanne O'Rourke
joanne.orourke@oiahe.org.uk
Joanne joined the OIA in April 2010 as an Assistant Adjudicator. Joanne qualified as a solicitor in 2007 and, after a career in private practice, she worked as an adjudicator resolving landlord and tenant disputes arising under the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
Claire Oldfield
claire.oldfield@oiahe.org.uk
Claire joined the OIA in April 2008 as an Assistant Adjudicator. She has worked in complaints investigation and management in a variety of different roles in the last 10 years including the Child Support Agency, the Police Complaints Authority and the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner.
Mandy Southwick
mandy.southwick@oiahe.org.uk
Mandy joined the OIA in February 2010 as an Assistant Adjudicator. After many years working for various Government Departments, she then spent over two years at the Rural Payments Agency as a Customer Relations Manager dealing with complaints and appeals. She most recently worked at Thames Valley University as the Committees, Validation and Quality Officer for the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences.
Home Based Consultants
Alex Blacknell
alex.blacknell@oiahe.org.uk
Alex joined the OIA as a consultant in March 2008. She qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and worked in private practice handling litigation and disputes resolution until 1995. She was a shadow board member of a Housing Association between 2000 and 2002.
Katie Carter
katie.carter@oiahe.org.uk
Katie began work as a consultant for the OIA in March 2007. She worked in further and higher education in the late 1980s and early 1990s. From 1997 to 2005 she was Chief Executive of the UK healthcare regulator, the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice, a body that set standards for and quality-assured GP training.
Katie Dean
katie.dean@oiahe.org.uk
Katie worked for the OIA between 2005 and 2007 as a casehandler. She completed her Legal Practice Qualification before joining the OIA and she has since gained further experience handling complaints and investigations against premium rate and telecommunication services. Katie continued as a home-based case handler until 2008, and joined us again in that role in April 2010.
Tony Drew
tony.drew@oiahe.org.uk
Alongside his role with the OIA, which he joined in February 2007, Tony continues to work as a consultant for various public sector organisations carrying out serious incident reviews and investigations into ethical conduct and bullying and harassment issues. Previously, Tony worked as an investigator for the Standards Board for England and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Sarah Payne
sarah.payne@oiahe.org.uk
Sarah joined the OIA as an Assistant Adjudicator in March 2004. She qualified as a solicitor in 1996 and worked in litigation for a leading City firm until 2002. She also holds a public appointment as a Member of the Investigating Committee of the General Osteopathic Council and is Vice-Chair of a national charity.
Dr Patricia Witts
patricia.witts@oiahe.org.uk
Patricia joined the OIA as a consultant in August 2006. She specialises in dealing with postgraduate complaints. Patricia worked as a solicitor in private practice and industry before joining the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, where for many years she handled professional negligence claims against solicitors. She has a dual career as a lawyer and a specialist in the iconography of Roman mosaics.