Advanced Complaint Practitioner

Hull City Council; Lowgate; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 44,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

LGPS pension

23 days annual leave + public holidays

Career development & learning

Job summary

Hull City Council is seeking an experienced Advanced Complaints Practitioner to provide senior professional support within the Integrated Complaints & Compliments Service. The role focuses on leadership, quality assurance and service improvement across complaints, ensuring insights drive practice development and better outcomes for children, families and residents.

The successful candidate will oversee staff, quality assure investigations, and support complex complaint handling across Children,

Qualifications

• Experienced, knowledgeable and confident in complaints management, quality assurance and practice development.
• Skilled at analysing complex information and communicating findings clearly and translating data into reports.
• Good written and verbal communication skills with skills in presenting information.
• Able to build strong working relationships with senior leaders, operational managers, and external partners.
• Committed to continuous improvement, innovation and service improvement.
• Highly organised, with the ability to work independently and manage competing priorities.
• Passionate about improving the experiences of children, families and residents through effective learning from feedback.

Responsibilities

• Provide oversight and professional advice for the complaints service staff and the operational services.
• Lead the completion and quality assurance of the quarterly Complaints Snapshot Report.
• Analyse trends, themes and learning from complaints to deliver practice improvement activity.
• Quality assure complaint investigation reports and adjudication responses for Heads of Service, offering expert consultation.
• Quality assurance of files prepared for Independent Complaint Panel Reviews and reports and Director responses to complaints.
• Conduct quality assurance of complaint case files before submission to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
• Act as a specialist advisor for complex complaint screenings.
• Support managers and staff in driving forward learning from complaints.

Job description

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced, motivated and skilled Advanced Complaints Practitioner, dedicated to working within our Integrated Complaints & Compliments Service.

This is a pivotal role that strengthens the quality, consistency, and learning culture across our organisation. As Advanced Complaints Practitioner, you will provide senior professional support to the Grade 12 Group Manager and act as a key source of expertise, leadership, and resilience across the complaints function. You will play a central role in improving service quality across the local authority, ensuring that feedback from children, families, residents, and partners drives practice development and results in better outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide oversight and professional advice for the complaints service staff and the operational services. Supporting service continuity and resilience across all stages of the complaint procedure and tasks and functions within each stage of the process.
• Lead the completion and quality assurance of the quarterly Complaints Snapshot Report. Ensuring clear accountability and driving service improvement.
• Analyse trends, themes and learning from complaints to deliver practice improvement activity, including targeted audits, “stop the clocks” sessions, and thematic support.
• Quality assure complaint investigation reports and adjudication responses for Heads of Service, offering expert consultation.
• Quality assurance of files prepared for Independent Complaint Panel Reviews and reports and Director responses to complaints.
• Conduct quality assurance of complaint case files before submission to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
• Act as a specialist advisor for complex complaint screenings.
• Supporting managers and staff in driving forward learning from complaints. This may be achieved through team meetings or service meetings.
• Support offered by complaints will extend across all Children, Young People and Families services within the Local Authority.
• Strengthen the authority’s approach to learning from compliments and complaints, ensuring insights translate into practice improvements. Achieving this through regular quarterly reporting on themes from complaints.
• Occasionally completing or participating in bespoke auditing that is linked to complaints and working on ensuring the learning informs practice within the service.
• Monitor and ensure completion of complaint action plans, improving timeliness and consistency across teams.
• Participate in operational meetings to provide families with an experienced manager from the Complaints Team when cases remain unresolved.
• Provide direct supervision, development and support to the Business Support Officer.
• Provides support and advice to the three Grade 8 Complaint Co Ordinator’s.
• Model best practice and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the service.

About You

• Experienced, knowledgeable and confident in complaints management, quality assurance and practice development.
• Skilled at analysing complex information and communicating findings clearly and translating data into reports.
• Good written and verbal communication skills with skills in presenting information.
• Able to build strong working relationships with senior leaders, operational managers, and external partners.
• Committed to continuous improvement, innovation and service improvement.
• Highly organised, with the ability to work independently and manage competing priorities.
• Passionate about improving the experiences of children, families and residents through effective learning from feedback.

What We Offer

• A supportive, collaborative working environment.
• Opportunities for professional development and progression.
• A collaborative, values-driven culture where your expertise is valued.
• The chance to make a real impact in shaping service quality and improving outcomes across the local authority.

Role & Purpose of Job

To support the effective delivery of the Children, Young People and Family Services complaints function, ensuring that children and young people, their families and carers across the city are encouraged and supported to comment on the quality of the services they receive.

To support Children, Young People and Family Services in responding to, considering and learning from complaints, representations, concerns and compliments in accordance with statutory requirements, council procedures and recognised good practice.

To provide specialist advice, guidance and support in relation to complex, sensitive and high-risk complaints across Children’s Social Care, Early Help, Learning and Skills, SEND and Targeted Family Support services, promoting timely resolution and positive outcomes for children, young people and families.

Working under the direction of the Integrated Complaints Manager, the postholder supports the management of statutory and corporate complaints processes, contributes to quality assurance and performance monitoring activities, and promotes the effective use of learning from complaints to improve practice and service delivery.

The postholder provides professional support and guidance to Complaints Coordinators, supervises the Business Support function within the Complaints Team, and contributes to maintaining effective operational delivery of the complaints service.

Through the analysis of complaints, feedback and service user experiences, the role supports continuous improvement across Children, Young People and Family Services and contributes to improving outcomes for children and young people.

Principal Accountabilities

1. Customer Focus – Supports the delivery of statutory and corporate complaints processes across Children, Young People and Family Services, ensuring complaints are progressed in accordance with legislation, policy, procedure and service standards.
2. Complex Complaint Resolution – Coordinates and manages complex, sensitive and high-risk complaints, supporting robust investigations and helping to ensure fair, proportionate and timely outcomes for complainants.
3. Professional Advice and Guidance – Provides specialist advice and guidance to Complaints Coordinators, managers and practitioners on complaints handling, statutory requirements, complaint investigations and resolution approaches.
4. Quality Assurance – Undertakes quality assurance activity on complaint responses, investigation reports and outcomes to support consistency, compliance and good practice across the service.
5. Learning and Improvement – Analyses complaints, compliments, representations and feedback to identify trends, themes and learning opportunities, making recommendations to support service improvement and improved customer experience.
6. Performance Monitoring – Supports the Integrated Complaints Manager in monitoring complaints performance, maintaining accurate records and contributing to reports, audits and performance information relating to complaints activity.
7. Investigation Coordination – Coordinates activity associated with formal complaint investigations, including liaison with investigating officers, independent persons, advocates and operational managers to support effective progression of complaints.
8. Service Development – Contributes to the review and development of complaints procedures, guidance, systems and working practices, supporting compliance with legislative requirements and recognised best practice.
9. Partnership Working – Develops effective working relationships with children, young people, families, advocates, elected members, partner agencies and professionals to support the effective resolution of complaints and improve service user experience.
10. Staff Support and Supervision – Provides day-to-day support and professional guidance to Complaints Coordinators and supervises Business Support staff within the Complaints Service, assisting with workload management, service continuity and operational effectiveness.

Compensation & Benefits

NC5101.Advanced Complaints Practitioner Compensation Grades: GRADES 9. Pay Ranges: £41,177.00 - £44,253.00 Job Classifications: 12- Enhanced & Children’s Barring List (Child & Adult Workforce) - (Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)), 3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), Casual - (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Statutory Post)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council

• A competitive salary
• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
• Supportive and forward-thinking culture
• Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process. By joining our team you will be making a tangible difference to the lives of people in Hull. Working with people who are as passionate about our place and public services as you are.

If you experience any technical issues accessing your account or completing/submitting your application for our jobs, please refer to the guide below; Application Issues Existing staff members at Hull City Council with a Workday Account must apply for vacancies via the Jobs Hub here; Jobs Hub Page

https://www.hull.gov.uk/jobs/welcome-hull-city-council/introduction-working-hull-city-council