Customer Complaints Officer

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with complaints handling experience to support the development of the complaints service for Housing Neighbourhoods & Buildings Services (HNB). You will be looking to use existing skills to develop further expertise in complaints handling, connecting to all service areas within the HNB directorate. You will be responsible for supporting the Complaints Lead with the day-to-day management of the service, with the requirement to work closely with internal stakeholders and external regulatory services, keeping up to date with relevant legislation and guidance. Building on knowledge of The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and The Charter for Social Housing, the role will be key in instilling best practice within HNB for dealing with and responding to landlord-specific complaints and in doing so, enabling the Complaints Lead to:

• Establish the learning from complaints and associated responses
• Collate and track actions, reporting findings internally and externally to customers, Elected Members, Senior Management teams and other interested teams
What are the responsibilities? This role extends across the whole of the HNB directorate. You will be the first point of contact for customers (including tenants and leaseholders) for all complaints and compliments relating to landlord services via multiple channels including but not limited to telephone and digital correspondence. You will be responsible for ensuring complaints, compliments, service requests and enquiries to the service are administered properly, in line with required deadlines, enabling the service to both respond appropriately and learn from all customer contacts. Working to manage the complaints process and be sure all customer contacts are investigated appropriately by liaising closely with departments throughout HNB and PCC, as well as the Housing Ombudsman and other regulatory bodies as required. There will be links to areas outside of HNB, with the post holder required to build excellent working relationships with other teams within HNB, Elected Members and external stakeholders to ensure all relevant considerations are made when managing complaints. Consultation with customers will be required to help understand HNB's performance in response to complaints.


• Experience of responding to and managing customer complaints, including a sound understanding of complaints processes within local government - experience of managing complaints referred to the Housing Ombudsman would be beneficial
• Experienced in receiving, logging, managing and coordinating complaints and responses, always demonstrating excellent decision-making skills and good judgement
• Extensive and demonstrable IT skills including the Microsoft 365 package (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams etc)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to absorb complex information and present it to different audiences in a clear and accessible way
• Proven ability to deal with complex and sensitive matters with the aim of gathering accurate information to inform good decision making
• Using initiative to deal with difficult and challenging interactions and situations
• Experience of dealing with GDPR and Data Protection issues, with the ability to support others in developing an understanding while minimising risk and assuring compliance
• Have evidence of working with elected members and an understanding of the skills required to do so effectively
• Resilience and the ability to meet challenges with positivity while remaining focussed on the final delivery of a task or project along with the ability to self-reflect and learn from others
• An understanding of systems thinking methodology and its application within HNB
  
  We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:
• A generous pension scheme
• Up to 31 days annual leave per year pro rata + bank holidays
• We offer flexible working options including hybrid working with a minimum of two days office based per week pro rata, giving you the flexibility to work up to three days at home every week. Hybrid working is dependent on the role and service needs, exact details will be discussed with you at interview.
• A range of retail discounts via our reward portal offering discounts at retailers including IKEA, Currys, Tesco
• Free Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellbeing support
• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships
• Potential to purchase additional annual leave
• Business travel support and initiatives, including bike loans