Complaints Officer

Hoople Limited; Hereford; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 32,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

LGPS—Local Government Pension Scheme

Career progression

31 days annual leave (pro rata)

Flexible working

Employee Assistance Programme

Professional membership fees

Job summary

Herefordshire Council is seeking a dedicated Complaints Officer to join the Governance and Law Team in Hereford. You will be the primary contact for complaints and information requests, recording feedback in the CRM, and guiding responses across council services.

The role requires strong communication, analytical skills and the ability to manage competing priorities in a public-sector context. The post is part-time, fixed-term until March 2027, with pro rata salary and flexible working options.

Qualifications

• Experience handling complaints, information requests or customer enquiries in public sector or regulated environments.
• Ability to build positive relationships with customers, colleagues, elected members and external partners.
• Capable of prioritising, organising caseloads and working independently.
• Excellent communication with strong interpersonal, negotiation and mediation skills.
• Experience analysing information, identifying trends and producing performance reports.
• Comfort with CRM systems and Microsoft Office applications.
• Able to exercise sound judgement and make balanced decisions under pressure.
• Commitment to high-quality service and continuous improvement.
• Committed to equality, fairness and inclusion.
• Educated to A-Level standard or equivalent with evidence of ongoing development; complaints handling or mediation training is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Act as single point of contact for complaints, compliments and information requests.
• Record, monitor and report customer feedback using CRM.
• Investigate complaints and act as Investigating Officer when appropriate.
• Support development and implementation of complaints and information governance policies.
• Liaise with managers, councillors, MPs and service areas for timely responses.
• Analyse complaint data to identify trends and improvements.
• Produce monitoring and management information reports.
• Promote awareness of complaints procedures and information governance.
• Support training for managers and staff.
• Ensure compliance with FOI, Data Protection, Equality legislation.
• Collaborate with colleagues, advocacy services and partners to resolve issues.

Skills

Complaints handling

Public sector experience

CRM systems

Microsoft Office

Relationship building

Independent worker

Strong communicator

Analytical reporting

Interpersonal skills

Equality & inclusion

Mediation training

A-Level qualified

Education

A-Level standard or equivalent

Tools

CRM systems

Microsoft Office

Job description

About The Role

Job Title: Complaints Officer

Hours: 16

Salary: £28,142 - £32,062 pro rata (£12,169 - £13,863 per annum)

Contract: Fixed Term Until March 2027

Location: Hereford

Closing date: 15/10/2026

The Role

Herefordshire Council is seeking a motivated and customer-focused Complaints Officer to join our Governance and Law Team within the Corporate Services Directorate. In this rewarding role, you will act as a key point of contact for members of the public accessing council services, ensuring complaints, comments, compliments and information requests are handled professionally, fairly and efficiently. You will play an important role in maintaining public confidence in the council by ensuring enquiries are managed effectively, legislative requirements are met and opportunities for service improvement are identified and acted upon.

What will you be doing?

• Acting as a single point of contact for complaints, compliments, comments and information requests.
• Recording, monitoring and reporting on customer feedback through the council's CRM system.
• Investigating complaints and acting as Investigating Officer where appropriate.
• Supporting the development and implementation of policies, procedures and systems relating to complaints and access to information.
• Liaising with managers, councillors, MPs and service areas to ensure timely and effective responses.
• Analysing complaint and performance data to identify trends and opportunities for service improvement.
• Producing monitoring and management information reports.
• Promoting awareness of complaints, information governance and customer feedback procedures.
• Supporting training and guidance for managers and staff.
• Ensuring compliance with relevant legislation including Freedom of Information, Data Protection and Equality legislation.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues, customers, advocacy services and partner organisations to resolve issues and improve outcomes.

About You

• Experienced in handling complaints, information requests or customer enquiries within a public sector or similarly regulated environment.
• Skilled in building and maintaining positive relationships with customers, colleagues, elected members and external partners.
• Confident in managing competing priorities, organising caseloads and working independently.
• An excellent communicator with strong interpersonal, negotiation and mediation skills.
• Experienced in analysing information, identifying trends and producing performance reports.
• Comfortable working with customer relationship management (CRM) systems and Microsoft Office applications.
• Able to exercise sound judgement, solve problems and make balanced decisions in challenging situations.
• Committed to delivering high-quality customer service and continuous improvement.
• Sensitive to the needs of diverse communities and committed to equality, fairness and inclusion.
• Educated to A-Level standard or equivalent, with evidence of ongoing professional development. Complaints handling or mediation training would be advantageous

We Offer

• Salary range of£28,142 - £32,062 pro rata £12,169 - £13,863 per annum.
• Enrolment in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Career progression: clear pathways to progress
• Annual Leave: 31 days’ annual leave (pro rata) plus bank holidays. You can also purchase an additional 10 days per annum during the request period
• Flexible working: including the potential for job-sharing, part-time hours and agile working.
• Employee Assistance Programme: 24/7 access to support and counselling
• Payment of professional membership fees (based on role requirements)
• Pick your perks – our benefits include access to a range of retail, leisure, holiday and health benefits. This includes savings, cash back and discounts.

Why Choose Us?

We’re proud and excited to unveil our new recruitment video, a celebration of Herefordshire’s people, places, and purpose. Set in the heart of England and filled with pride, compassion and possibility, the video brings to life what it means to work somewhere you truly belong.

At Herefordshire Council, every role matters and every person makes a real difference for our communities. We’re a team where people feel valued, supported and empowered to grow together.

Herefordshire is big hearted, welcoming and friendly. We have strong and independent communities and idyllic countryside, situated in the South West Midlands and bordering Wales. The county sits between Worcestershire and the Malvern Hills to the east, and Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons) in Wales to the west.

Historically Herefordshire has been the gateway to the Marches. We embrace partnership working. We are a member of the Marches Forward Partnership, which is a cross border collaboration between Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Powys and Shropshire who are collectively working to secure funding to invest in the region.

The council priorities over the next four years are set out in the Council Plan, with four main areas;

People: We will enable residents to realise their potential, to be healthy and to be part of great communities who support each other. We want all children to have the best start in life.

Place: We will protect and enhance our environment and ensure that Herefordshire is a great place to live. We will support the right housing in the right place, we will support access to green spaces and we will do everything we can to recover the health of our rivers.

Growth: We will create the conditions to deliver sustainable growth across the county; attracting inward investment, building business confidence, creating jobs, enabling housing development along with providing the right infrastructure.

Transformation: We will be an efficient council that embraces best practice, delivers innovation through technology and demonstrates value for money.

Don’t meet all parts of the job description? Herefordshire Council is committed to strengthening a diverse and inclusive work environment which reflects the communities of Herefordshire. If you are looking at the next stage of your career and have a broad base of fieldwork experience, we can provide supportive and welcoming opportunities to help you develop your professional, management & supervisory skills.

Reasonable Adjustments

Our recruitment process runs in partnership with Hoople Resourcing. If you require any reasonable adjustments or alternative methods for the online application process, please contact the resourcing team by email: [e-mail].

Creating an inclusive workplace

We encourage our employees to feel empowered and to use their voices to help embrace diversity, promote inclusivity and shape our organisation. We have eight employee network groups, collectives of colleagues who often share identities, life experiences or cultures and offer support and community. They also play an important role in strengthening the voices of employees at Herefordshire Council. Embedded in the Council's values is a commitment to listen to people's views and needs.

For more information on our Employee Network Groups please view our dedicated recruitment website: www.spiritofherefordshire.com.

Commitments, Covenants and Statutory Obligations

The following candidates will be interviewed if they meet the essential criteria for the post they are applying for:

• Those who indicate that they have a disability. This is part of our commitment to the “Disability Confident” scheme.
• Those who indicate in their application that they are an Armed Forces Veteran or Reservist. This is part of our pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant.
• Those who indicate in their application that they are a Herefordshire care leaver. This is part of our commitment to supporting young people leaving our care.

We take our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults seriously and expect all of our staff, visitors and volunteers to share in this commitment.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children & young people and vulnerable adults. If you are offered this position, it may be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check.