Complaints & Information Manager

Are you a highly organised leader with a passion for driving service improvements and upholding children's rights? The London Borough of Hackney is seeking a Complaints & Information Manager to lead our operational delivery of Children Act complaints, corporate complaints, and statutory information requests (including FOIs and SARs).

In this pivotal role, you will act as the primary operational lead, ensuring our services meet statutory deadlines and strict quality standards while embedding a restorative, anti-racist approach to complaints handling. You will be crucial in ensuring that learning from complaints directly informs our wider quality assurance framework, helping us provide the highest quality support to our children and families.

• Team Leadership: Manage and inspire a dedicated team, including 3x Complaints & Information Officers, 1x Senior Information Officer, and 1x Information Officer.
• Complaints Management: Oversee Children Act and corporate complaints, ensuring they are dealt with speedily and professionally. You will lead on early resolution ('pre-stage 1') processes and quality assure investigation reports.
• Information Governance: Maintain oversight for the compliant processing of Freedom of Information (FOI) and Subject Access Requests (SARs), adhering closely to Data Protection legislation.
• Ombudsman & ICO Liaison: Act as the primary point of contact for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and resolve issues referred to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
• Continuous Learning: Analyze trends from feedback to present regular updates, integrate findings into staff training, and track action plans to improve practice across the directorate.

• Experience: Significant experience in complaints investigations (corporate and Children's Act) and strategic oversight of complex information requests (SARs/FOIs). Experience working within a children's services context is essential.
• Leadership Skills: Proven track record of managing, motivating, and supervising staff.
• Values-Driven Practice: Knowledge and awareness of the impact of systemic racism and oppression, with the ability to champion proactive anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices.
• Communication & Relationship Building: Exceptional written and interpersonal skills, with the ability to manage conflict sensitively, build trust, and negotiate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Qualifications: A degree, relevant professional qualification, or equivalent recent and relevant experience.

Please Note: A satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is required for this role.

At Hackney, we are committed to equality, empowerment, and public service. We model a Systemic, Trauma-informed, and Anti-racist (STAR) approach. If you want to put the highest duty to children at the centre of your decision-making, we want to hear from you!

Ready to make a difference? Apply today!

Commercial Services Trading Ltd is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.