# Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, Paragraph 7

Status: prospective

(1) Where the office of Ombudsman becomes vacant, the Department may appoint a person as acting Ombudsman.
(2) Any person holding office as acting Ombudsman ceases to hold that office—
(a) on the appointment of a new Ombudsman; or
(b) at the end of the period of one year beginning with the day on which the vacancy arose,
whichever first occurs.
(3) Otherwise, a person appointed as acting Ombudsman holds office in accordance with the terms of appointment.
(4) A person holding office as acting Ombudsman is to be treated for all purposes (apart from those of paragraphs 1 to 6) as the Ombudsman.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2016/21/schedule/3/paragraph/7 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/justice-act-northern-ireland-2016/schedule-3/paragraph-7
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.