Portman Group appoints new Chair of Independent Complaints Panel

The Portman Group has appointed Rachel Childs as the new Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel (ICP). 

The Portman Group is the UK alcohol industry’s self-regulator: counting Asahi, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Diageo and Heineken among its members.

The Independent Complaints Panel is tasked with assessing complaints brought forward on the naming, packaging, promotion and sponsorship of alcoholic drinks, based on the Portman Group’s Code of Praxtice.

Childs has been a serving member for the last seven years. She was appointed as the Panel’s first Deputy Chair in January 2022 and took over as interim Chair of the Panel in September 2023.

Childs is a former headteacher with a varied career spanning over ten years in regulation.

She served on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) Council between 2011 and 2019, and currently sits on the Advertising Advisory Committee, providing consumer input into the development of the CAP and BCAP codes.

Rachel also works for several regulators across a variety of industries. She is a Fitness to Practise Committee Panel Chair at the Nursing and Midwifery Council and a Lay Member of the Professional Conduct Committee at the Architects Registration Board. She also sits as a Chair and Panellist for the Independent Appeals Panel assessing Third Stage Penalty Fares Appeals.

After a successful term, Nicola Williams stepped down as chair of the panel in September 2023 to focus on her wider portfolio of work as a part-time Crown Court Judge and Penguin published author.