Complaint Resolution

Position: Complaint Resolutions Officer
Location: London
Sector: Local Authority
Pay Rate: £22.83 per hour PAYE
Contract: Initial 6-month contract (potential extension

Role Description

The Complaint Resolutions Officer plays a crucial role in delivering an effective service for managing complaints, enquiries, and compliments, ensuring that service standards are consistently met. This role involves providing timely responses to complaints and member enquiries in line with the Council’s policies and procedures, aiming to resolve issues efficiently and prevent escalation.

Working for a local authority based in London, the officer will collaborate with both internal and external stakeholders, providing regular feedback to residents to ensure consistent practices across the directorate. Additionally, they will coordinate and facilitate consultations with residents to involve them in reviewing and improving services.

About the Role

• Draft Responses: Prepare responses to complaints and enquiries, ensuring a robust and consistent approach, high accuracy, thorough investigations, and full resolution of issues in accordance with the Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.
• Service Delivery: Manage an effective complaints, enquiries, and compliments service to meet service standards.
• Information Provision: Supply information to the corporate complaints service for Freedom of Information enquiries, Ombudsman cases, and Subject Access Requests as per Council policies.
• Support Staff: Assist housing and other department staff in resolving issues efficiently to meet performance targets and prevent complaint escalation.
• Performance Reporting: Contribute to performance reports and promote learning from complaints to facilitate continuous service improvements.
• Monitoring and Tracking: Oversee complex complaints, enquiries, and specialist investigations, ensuring follow-up works are completed, liaising with contractors and internal departments.
• Collaboration: Work with elected members, managers, and contractors, providing regular feedback to residents to ensure consistent practices.
• Consultation Coordination: Facilitate consultations with customers to involve them in service reviews and improvements.
• Complaint Resolution: Address and resolve complaints and enquiries to prevent escalation.
• Support Corporate Team: Assist the corporate complaints team in gathering information and conducting specialist investigations into complex complaints.
• Follow-Up Monitoring: Ensure follow-up works are completed within agreed timescales, embedding learning from complaints into the process.
• Relationship Building: Maintain effective relationships with customers, keeping them informed on the progress of their complaints to ensure confidence in the process.
• Learning and Improvement: Contribute to lessons learned and actions taken to prevent future service failures and complaints.
• Compensation Awards: Determine compensation levels for customers in line with relevant policies.
• Training and Policy Development: Work with the line manager to identify training needs and ensure new service managers understand complaint handling requirements.
• Stakeholder Relationships: Build and maintain productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Policy and Service Development: Contribute to the development of policies, practices, procedures, and service planning for Growth and Place, participating in projects, working groups, and audits as directed.

 About You

• Experience: Proven experience in working with residents to resolve complaints and dealing with a diverse community client base, developing successful dispute resolution strategies.
• Organisational Skills: Ability to manage, organise, and coordinate a large caseload, handling conflicting priorities effectively.
• Record Keeping: Experience in setting up and maintaining accurate records, including database and spreadsheet management.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present information clearly and accurately.
• Persuasion and Negotiation: Ability to persuade and negotiate with stakeholders to achieve desired outcomes.
• Commitment: Dedication to continuing personal development.

 

This role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on service delivery and community satisfaction within a local authority in London. If you are committed to excellence and continuous improvement, we encourage you to apply