We are the independent student complaints scheme for England and Wales.
- We review unresolved complaints from students about their higher education provider. Where we find that the provider has done something wrong, we make Recommendations for them to put things right.
- We share learning from complaints to help improve policies and practices across the higher education sector.
- We work with others and contribute to the development of policy, both in the wider regulatory framework for higher education and in the ombuds sector.
We have been approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute as the consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) body for higher education in England and Wales.
We are a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.
Joint Leadership and Governance
Our people make the OIA what it is. They are central to what we do and come to us from diverse backgrounds with a variety of skill sets and life experience. We have built a professional and committed team of staff who share our organisation’s values and reflect them in our work, enabling us to fulfil our role and provide an effective service. You can find out more about our people, our organisational structure and our teams, and about working for us.
Helen Megarry and Ben Elger jointly lead the OIA as Independent Adjudicator and Chief Executive respectively.
Helen was appointed as Independent Adjudicator on 1 May 2023. She has overall responsibility for our case-handling and good practice work, including the Good Practice Framework, and for legal claims against the OIA including judicial review. She leads on our engagement with the wider ombuds sector through the Ombudsman Association and the European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education.
Helen was the Independent Adjudicator at the Adjudicator’s Office from 2016 to 2023, leading the team there. She was a Board Member of the Ombudsman Association for four years from May 2016. Helen previously worked for the Housing Ombudsman Service for 18 years in various casework and leadership roles, including as the Deputy Housing Ombudsman. She is a solicitor by profession and worked in private practice for several years before moving into complaint handling.
Ben was appointed as Chief Executive on 1 April 2018. He has overall responsibility for organisational planning, finance and people management. He has a key role in liaising with governments and led our work on the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 and the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022. Ben is a member of the UK Standing Committee and has previously been involved in groups relating to the Regulatory Partnership Group for Higher Education in England including the working group charged with “mapping the Higher Education system”. He was also a member of the steering group for the Student Engagement Partnership (TSEP).
Ben joined the OIA as its first Chief Operating Officer in September 2008, combining the role with that of Company Secretary. Before that he spent 15 years working with students, for the last 10 years as Chief Executive of Reading University Students’ Union, and before that at the Students’ Unions at Winchester, King’s College London and South Bank Universities and as National Secretary of NUS
The Board is supported through a Governance team led by the Company Secretary, Dr Adam Waddingham. The Governance team provide comprehensive support to the Board as well as the Executive team.
About our Board
The OIA is overseen by an independent Board. The Board’s responsibilities include:
- oversight of the performance and effectiveness of the Independent Adjudicator, the Chief Executive and the Scheme;
- setting the budget and determining the level of subscriptions payable each year by members of the Scheme;
- approving the Scheme Rules;
- preserving the independence of the Scheme.
Our Board is made up of Non-Executive Directors with lay, student and higher education sector perspectives. To protect our independence, it is structured so that those with a sector perspective can’t constitute a majority.
It’s important to us to hear student perspectives through our governance as well as through our wider engagement with students and those who represent them. We currently have a range of student perspectives on the Board including national representation, students’ union management and lived experience.
Our vision that students are always treated fairly is at the heart of the Board’s decision making and informs the approach the Board takes to its oversight of the organisation.
Board members are not involved in the review of individual complaints.
Board members
Sim Scavazza – Chair of the Board
Sim Scavazza was appointed as Chair of the OIA Board of Non-Executive Directors in October 2023. As the former Deputy Chair of University of the Arts London, Sim spent 11 years championing equality, diversity and inclusion, and the wellbeing of staff and students. Sim was an advisor on race until 2024 for NHS Providers.
Sim is Deputy Chair for the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire & Berkshire West NHS Integrated Care Board, having stepped up to Chair for 18 months. She is also a Non-Executive Director at London North West NHS Trust, Vice Chair at Imperial College ICHT, and the North West London EDI steering group, overseeing the wellbeing of over 24,000 staff.
Further reflecting her passion for supporting young people and philanthropic work, Sim became a Trustee of the women’s’ employment charity Smartworks, and the National Saturday Club charity.
Sim’s commercial background is in fashion clothing retail where she spent 30 years working for some of the UK’s best loved high street brands including River Island and Next. Sim was managing Director for the young fashion chain Miss Selfridge, then part of the Arcadia Group.
Sim is a Fellow at the RSA.
Martin Kirke – Deputy Chair
Martin joined the OIA Board in 2019 and was appointed as Deputy Chair from July 2023. Martin Chairs the OIA People & Remuneration Committee and is a member of our Diversity Steering Group.
Martin has a coaching and consultancy business providing services including organisation change, diversity and inclusion to clients. He is a mediator and arbitrator with ACAS, working to resolve collective disputes. Martin is also an Independent Remuneration Adviser to Boards.
Martin’s corporate career included international roles working in Latin America, USA, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa. His roles included HR Global Operations Director, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific for BP and Vice President Resource Management Europe, Middle East and Africa for Ericsson. He also held HR and Change Director roles at Serco Transport, Post Office and the Natural Environment Research Council. He was a change consultant at No.10 and the Cabinet Office. Martin is a Fellow of the CIPD and has a first degree in Behavioural Science and a master’s degree in HR Management from Cardiff University.
Andrew Chandler
Andrew is a solicitor and works as a consultant to advise leading businesses, trade associations and public sector clients on commercial contracts, competition law, distribution and risk. He was formerly a partner at Eversheds LLP. Andrew has also served as an Independent Trustee of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a school governor and has held lay representative and patient representative roles. He chairs a small wellbeing charity.
Dr Wendy Finlay
Wendy is Vice-Principal – Student Experience at University College of Estate Management. She has worked in higher education management since 2004, having moved across from a career as a post-doctoral research associate. Wendy has worked at a range of institutions delivering higher education during her career, including universities, alternative providers and an FE college.
Nicola Flint
Appointed in July 2023, Nicola is a former Senior Civil Servant and a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. Nicola has a voluntary portfolio based upon both financial skills and experience and her interest in taking a people centric approach, particularly for young people.
Professor Osama Khan
Professor Khan is the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic at Aston University, Birmingham. He is central to the development of Aston University’s academic strategy in line with the University 2030 Strategy and is strategic lead for the University’s education agenda providing talented and motivated students from all backgrounds with an outstanding education that is inclusive, research-informed, technologically enhanced & professionally enriched with industry partnerships. Coming from a BAME background, Osama believes in transforming lives through inclusive education and nurturing the power of equality, diversity, and inclusion. He is part of various national initiatives related to teaching excellence, student experience, student outcome, student wellbeing, equitable attainment and leadership in higher education.
Professor Rachael Langford
Professor Rachael Langford is Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff Metropolitan University, having previously held senior positions at Oxford Brookes University and Cardiff University. Rachael is a modern linguist by academic training. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of the British Academy Committee on Modern Languages in Higher Education.
Jonathan Rees
Jonathan has a public policy background in both central government and the not for profit sector. He is currently independent Chair of CILEx Regulation (the body setting education standards for, and regulating legal executives), and of the Standards Committee of RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects). He was previously, among other roles, a Trustee of Citizens Advice and the Employers Network of Equality and Inclusion, and an independent Director of Ombudsman Services (the ombuds for energy and telecommunications). Before that, he had a varied career as a senior civil servant over 35 years including working as adviser to two Prime Ministers, spells in the Cabinet Office, Foreign Office, Home Office and European Commission in Brussels and five years as Director General of the Government Equalities Office.
Alex Stanley
Alex has been Vice President of Higher Education at the National Union of Students since July 2024. His main role is to represent students in Higher Education and to advocate and campaign for their best interests. Prior to NUS, he spent a year as the Education Officer at Exeter Students’ Guild.
Dr Gwawr Taylor
Gwawr is the University Secretary and Director of Welsh Language at Aberystwyth University. She leads on university governance, institutional compliance with legal and statutory duties, particularly with respect to information governance, health, safety and the environment, student visa compliance, Welsh language compliance, including the translation unit, and the Learn Welsh provision.
Gwawr has previous experience as Company Secretary to Merthyr Tydfil College and Tydfil Training Consortium and has led Welsh-medium provision development in the higher education and further education sectors.
Professor Shân Wareing
Professor Shân Wareing is Vice-Chancellor at Middlesex University. Prior to this she held other executive roles including Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Northampton. She has also held positions including Chair of the Board of Trustees for Unite Foundation, and Chair of Advance HE’s Leadership and Management Strategic Advisory Group. Shân is a National Teaching Fellow.
The Good Practice Framework
The Good Practice Framework sets out principles and operational guidance to support higher education providers in England and Wales. It draws on our broad experience in handling complaints, and informs the way we consider complaints.
The Framework is intended to support providers to develop and follow fair processes, and to be a tool to help any provider to evaluate their own processes. It can also be a useful resource for students and those who advise them as guidance on what good complaints and appeals processes should look like.
The Framework currently has six sections: Handling complaints and academic appeals, Delivering learning opportunities with others, Supporting disabled students, Requests for additional consideration, Disciplinary procedures, and Fitness to practise. The overarching Principles apply across all sections of the Framework. There is also separate guidance to explain what we mean when we talk about bias.
We are grateful to our Good Practice Framework Steering Group and everyone else who has contributed to the development of the Framework.
Annual Report (latest available) 2024
The Annual Report includes information about:
- The number and outcomes of complaints we received and closed
- Trends in complaints
- Examples of some of the complaints we have received and our approach to them
- How we share learning from complaints
- How we work with others in the higher education sector
- Information about developments in our organisation over the year.
Annual Report. The 2025 Annual Report is due for publication in Late April 2026.
Please see the link to the OIA 2025 Operating Report HERE