Complaints Officer -Social Care in Dudley, West Midlands

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.