The Independent Reviewer of ASA Council Rulings, Sir Hayden Phillips is stepping down after over 15 years at the helm.

Following his appointment in January 2010, Sir Hayden has carried out his role assessing challenges to Council decisions, from advertisers or complainants, with unfailing thoughtfulness, diligence and care. Where he has found evidence that we have not got our decisions right or there has been a flaw in our processes, he has re-presented cases back to Council with elegantly crafted rationale for why a decision might be amended or overturned. He brought the same eloquence to explaining to those involved in a case why there were no grounds to intervene. 

Sir Hayden has had a long and highly distinguished career, principally in public service where, from 1967, he worked in the Home Office, the Cabinet Office, the Treasury and the European Commission. From 1992 until 2004, he was Permanent Secretary of two departments: first as the founding Permanent Secretary of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (until 1998) and then of what has now become the Ministry of Justice.

His passion for the creative arts – from 2004 to 2010 he was Chair of the National Theatre – extended to his personal life with cameos in two films: Jane Eyre in 2011 and the James Bond film No Time to Die in 2022. A former Chair of the Appointments Panel of the Independent Press Standards Organisation and of Marlborough College, he was also an adviser to Charles, then Prince of Wales, and a non-executive director of various companies in the City and elsewhere.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude for all Sir Hayden’s work and wish him a long and happy retirement. He is held in the very highest regard by everyone at the ASA. 

Our funding body, the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Asbof), is currently recruiting for a replacement, with the successful candidate likely to be appointed in October and taking on the position in the new year.

While the recruitment process advances, Rachel Childs has been appointed by Asbof to be Interim Independent Reviewer of ASA Council Rulings. She will also help the permanent appointment transition into their role. Her appointment is effective from 1 September 2025. 

Rachel has wide experience of regulation. A former headteacher and school leader across primary and secondary settings, she was an ASA Council member between 2011 and 2018, taking on the role of Senior Independent Director for her final three years. She subsequently sat on the Advertising Advisory Committee, providing a consumer perspective to the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP and BCAP) on the broadcast and non-broadcast advertising codes until January of this year. Rachel has extensive experience of complaint handling and review. She is the current Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel at the Portman Group and is an Independent Complaints Assessor for the Department for Transport. She also acts as a Fitness to Practise and Investigating Committee Chair for a number of different healthcare regulators.