Investigator

l Go; Coventry; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Agile working

Flexi-time

Job summary

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is recruiting Investigators to work in its Assessment and Investigation functions. Based in Coventry and York, you will handle complaints about local authority services and adult social care, performing early decisions or full investigations as needed.

The role offers a challenging, collaborative environment with opportunities to contribute to policy forums and emerging projects, including use of AI.

Qualifications

• Experience handling a diverse range of service users.
• Ability to analyse complex information and decide.
• Strong written and spoken English communication.
• Proven resilience and ability to work under deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Assess complaints and make early decisions where possible.
• Carry out full investigations and remedy injustice.
• Work in a pressurised, collaborative environment.

Skills

Trust & empathy

People management

Clear communication

Resilience under pressure

Prioritisation

Education

Degree or substantial experience

Job description

Hybrid working – allocated to offices in Coventry and York

Location

Based in Coventry and York .

Role

Our Investigators act with the delegated authority on behalf of the Ombudsman, either one of two functions:

• in Assessment where Investigators assess complaints made to the LGSCO, making early decisions on cases and looking for opportunities to resolve them without the need for a full investigation; and
• in Investigation where Investigators carry out full investigations and remedy injustice wherever appropriate.

We are currently recruiting Investigators to work in our Assessment function, however Investigators can be required to perform either function according to business need. See the job description for further information on how the two functions operate differently.

Investigators will deal with complaints about a wide range of different topics covering the span of local authority services and private adult social care. No two cases are the same, and no two days are the same in terms of the complaints you will consider. The role provides real challenge, requiring you to get up to speed quickly on a diverse range of subjects, from children's social care to rights of way, and homelessness to waste collections.

Investigators operate in a highly pressurised and collaborative environment where individuals contribute to the work of the team and the wider organisation. They are also personally responsible for their own case work and for maintaining high standards of performance and professional practice, meeting challenging objectives around quantity, quality, timeliness and impact. Once inducted and fully trained, Investigators are expected to operate with minimal guidance and supervision, demonstrating a high degree of resilience and confidence in their work. As we receive high volumes of complaints, Investigators are expected to demonstrate effective workload management skills and proportionate decision making at all times. Both skilled judgment and confident decision making are essential aspects of the role.

There is an opportunity to get involved in subject-specific forums, where you will have a chance to share your knowledge and discuss cases, as well as inform the Ombudsman's policy

positions on key issues. These forums play a key role in our external communications work, and have supported recent focus reports and practitioner guides on subjects such as end of life care, council tax appeal rights and planning enforcement.

There is also the opportunity to get involved in other projects. Recently, Investigators have worked alongside colleagues in other parts of the organisation to look at developing our use of artificial intelligence.

Details

Hours 35

Salary £44,980 to £53,780 per annum

Holiday 25 days rising by 1 day with three years’ service and a further 2 days with five years’ service. Plus bank holidays and 3 concessionary days between Christmas and New Year.

Requirements

Education

No specific qualification is required, however an understanding and application of the knowledge, skill and experience (listed above) is required. This is typically gained through a degree level professional/academic qualification or extensive practical experience.

Skills

• Establish trust and confidence with customers and service users
• Deal with a diverse range of people, some of whom may require additional support in making their complaint to us, and some of whom can display challenging behaviours
• Be able to deal with complex problem solving, analysis of complex written material, identification of key issues and able to communicate decisions in plain English
• Maintain high levels of resilience to work under pressure and to deadlines, with effective prioritisation skills
• Manage competing priorities and deliver against challenging targets within agreed timeframes

Experience

Experience of working in a role which involves dealing with a range of service users and/or customers

At the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman we value our staff and work hard to reward them.

We are an ambitious, focused, inclusive and friendly organisation which is recognised for the important work we do. There are a range of benefits for all our staff enjoy. These include:

• Pension: You’ll be entitled to join the Local Government Pension Scheme which is a career average scheme.
• Work/life balance: We encourage all employees to have a healthy work/life balance and offer flexible working arrangements, such asagile working and flexi-time, together with a wide range of different working patterns. All are subject to business needs.
• Learning and development:We provide our staff with access to a learning and development programme to enable them to succeed in their role. Where membership is relevant to your role in the organisation, we will also pay the annual membership fee for you to be a member of your professional body.
• Family-friendly: We offer generous maternity, adoption, paternity and parental leave, and provide for paid and unpaid special leave.
• Season ticket loan : We offer our staff the ability to have a loan for their annual travel season ticket.
• Wellbeing: We have a programme which includes an Occupational Health Service and access for you to an excellent, confidential Employee Assistance Scheme. This is a free 24-hour counselling service for advice about your work and personal life challenges
• You will be able to join the Civil Service Sports Club.
• As well as reimbursing the cost of your eye tests, we will subsidise your eye care where a prescription is for VDU usage and we will cover the cost of an annual flu jab.
• Bike loan: We run a Cycle to Work Scheme which allows you to pay for the cost of your bike (up to a limit) as a loan which is deducted from your salary.
• Reasonable adjustments: We recognise how important it is to make reasonable changes for staff where appropriate.

About the LGSCO

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is an arms-length body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and is responsible for investigating complaints against local councils, social care providers and some other public organisations in England.

We provide a free service to the public, offering an accessible route for people to seek redress without needing legal action. Our focus is on resolving issues fairly, recommending appropriate remedies, and improving systemic practice so others are not affected in the same way.

One of our primary aims is to put people back in the position they would have been in had the mistake not occurred. We do this through remedies including apologies, practical actions to assist the person affected, and preventative measures to avoid the same thing happening to others.

Beyond individual cases, we work to foster long-term improvements by publishing reports and sharing best practice with councils and care providers. We monitor implementation of our recommendations to strengthen transparency and accountability in local governance and social care.