Head of Complaints

Clarion Housing Group; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 104,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance

Hybrid working

Job summary

Clarion Housing Group is seeking a Head of Complaints to lead the complaints function with fairness, timeliness and empathy for residents in a hybrid London base.

You will use resident feedback and insights to drive service improvements across operations, contractors and senior leaders, building trust and ensuring governance and compliance in a regulated environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading complaint handling in social housing.
• Experience with Ombudsman engagement.
• Knowledge of governance reporting for complaints.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for the complaints function and align priorities.
• Lead operational performance and ensure timely, high-quality resolutions.
• Champion resident voice and influence service delivery.
• Turn insights into improvements using data and trends.
• Build partnerships across the organisation to resolve complex issues.
• Ensure governance, compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Develop and empower colleagues, coaching across the team.
• Manage resources including budgets and KPIs.

Job description

Location: Hybrid - Linked to London – Greater London House London - £103,846 - £129,808 plus £5,000 car allowance per annum National - £91,696 - £114,620 plus £5,000 car allowance per annum Hours: 36 hours per week – flexible options considered Contract Type: Permanent

This is a great opportunity to join our team, Employer of the Year Housing Heroes awards 2025 and Winner 2026 Inspiring Places to Work UK & Ireland As our Head of Complaints, you’ll lead the way in ensuring residents receive fair, timely and empathetic resolutions, while creating a culture at Clarion Housing where complaints are valued as an important opportunity to listen and improve.

You’ll use resident feedback and complaints insight to identify themes, tackle the root causes of recurring issues and drive measurable improvements across our services. Working across operational teams, contractors and senior leaders, you’ll embed learning, strengthen accountability and help build greater trust with our residents.

This is a highly influential role where you’ll have the opportunity to shape not only how we respond when things go wrong, but how we learn from those experiences to make things better for our residents.

You’ll provide strategic leadership for our complaints function, lead and develop a high-performing team, and work across the organisation to turn resident feedback and complaints insight into meaningful service improvement.

We are seeking a leader with a strong understanding and background in social housing with a proven experience of leading complaint handling in a regulated environment including complex casework, Ombudsman engagement and governance reporting.

As Head of Complaints, you will:

• Provide strategic leadership for the complaints function, translating organisational strategy into clear priorities and plans that deliver improved outcomes for residents and support Clarion’s wider objectives.
• Lead operational performance, setting clear objectives and standards, monitoring performance and ensuring the function consistently delivers high-quality, timely and effective complaint resolution.
• Champion the resident voice, working with residents and colleagues to understand their experiences, identify what matters most and ensure feedback influences service delivery and decision-making.
• Turn insight into improvement, using complaints data, performance information and emerging trends to identify root causes, reduce repeat failures and make clear, actionable recommendations for service improvement.
• Build strong partnerships across the organisation, influencing and working collaboratively with operational teams, contractors, senior leaders and other stakeholders to resolve complex issues and embed learning.
• Ensure effective governance and compliance, maintaining robust policies and processes and ensuring complaint handling meets relevant regulatory requirements, internal standards and organisational policies.
• Lead, develop and empower colleagues, creating a high-performing and accountable culture, identifying development needs and providing coaching and expertise that builds capability both within the team and across the wider organisation.
• Manage resources effectively, including budgets and key performance measures, ensuring resources are aligned to priorities, and the function delivers against its business and financial objectives.

Behaviours & Mandatory Accountabilities

OD level 1 and 2

Salaries are just the starting point.

Here at Clarion, we’re dedicated to rewarding hard work and commitment, and providing benefits that support you and your lifestyle - dive in and find out more here

Closing Date: Monday 12th October 2026 at midnight.

This is a hybrid role with a base location at our offices in London. Candidates will be expected to work from the office at least 2 days per week. Occasional travel may be required.

At Clarion Housing Group, we support the responsible use of AI. Here is your guide to using AI during your recruitment process.

You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy; Clarion are not able to offer visa sponsorship. You are required to reside in England or Wales for the duration of your employment.

This vacancy may close early without notice.

Clarion Housing Group formed in 2016, following the merger between two of the country’s largest housing associations, Affinity Sutton and Circle Housing Group. With over 125,000 homes we use our strength and scale to create opportunities that change peoples’ lives. We are also one of the biggest housebuilders in the country and are set to build 50,000 high quality homes of all tenures during the next ten years, as we remain committed to helping to tackle the housing shortage and to prioritising affordable homes.

In addition to new homes, we transform existing communities through sustained regeneration, helping people to access employment and training opportunities and giving young people a better start in life.