Niki Maclean joined the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) in August 2005, taking on the role of Director in 2010 with specific responsibility for the Investigatory, Scottish Welfare Fund Review and Corporate Services functions. Her focus during this time has been on developing and professionalising SPSO and other complaint handling bodies in order to drive organisational learning and improvement through the lens of complaints handling. In Scotland, this has included increasing the impact SPSO has on supporting improvement within the public bodies it works with and investigates through a culture of good complaints handling and getting decisions right first time. More widely, across the UK and Irish ombudsman community, Niki initiated the development of ombudsman wide industry service standards for the benefit of service users. Niki currently sits on scrutiny forums for monitoring organisation and sector performance in both the health and water sectors.
Prior to the SPSO, Niki worked as a senior HR professional within the field of HR, organisation change and development and training across the public and private sectors including the teaching, health, legal and accountancy professions. Niki has a BSc degree in Genetics from Leicester University, is a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has a Masters in People and Organisation Development and a qualification in adult teaching.