Complaints Officer -Social Care

Job title: Complaints Officer

Location: Dudley (Hybrid, 3 days on site)

Hourly Rate: £19.81 PAYE or £25.91 Umbrella

Duration: 6 Months

Job Description

The Dudley Council's Children's Services requires additional short-term capacity to support the effective handling of Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints. Frontline managers are responsible for operational delivery as well as coordinating and drafting complaint responses, which can create competing demands and contribute to delay or variable response quality. A dedicated complaints officer will provide focused capacity and expertise to improve grip on complaints from receipt to completion, support managers to respond within required timescales, quality-assure responses and ensure that learning is identified and fed back into service improvement. This is a time-limited intervention designed both to improve the experience of children, young people and families using the complaints process and to protect frontline management capacity during a period of wider improvement activity and staffing/capacity challenges. Baseline and in-period performance, including timeliness, aged complaints, escalation and response quality, will be monitored to evidence impact.

Key responsibilities

Coordinate and oversee Stage 1 and Stage 2 Children's Services complaints from allocation through to closure.
Maintain clear oversight of due dates, aged cases and barriers to completion, with timely escalation where responses are at risk of delay
Work directly with frontline managers to structure, draft and quality-assure responses so that each complaint point is addressed clearly, accurately and proportionately.
Promote respectful, accessible and child/family-focused communication, including clear explanations, apologies and remedies where appropriate.
Support appropriate progression and commissioning arrangements for Stage 2 complaints, ensuring records and evidence are complete.
Identify recurring themes, learning and practice issues and feed these into service improvement and management oversight.
Build complaints capability in frontline management through coaching, templates, feedback and practical guidance, leaving sustainable improvements after the interim period.Connect2Dudley is a trading style of Dudley & Kent Commercial Services LTD - A joint venture between Dudley Metropolitan Council & Commercial Services Kent Ltd. Connect2Dudley is an equal opportunities Employment Agency & Business. It positively encourages applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates