Ministry of Justice

Role: Tier 1 Complaints Officer

Business: Office of Public Guardian (OPG)

Location: Nottingham and Birmingham

Grade: EO

Salary:  £29,303 - £31,061

Contract Type:  Permanent

Minimum Hours: 22.5

Organisational Overview

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) protects people in England and Wales who may not have the mental capacity to make certain decisions for themselves, such as about their health and finance. We are an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), set up in 2007 following the introduction of the Mental Capacity Act of 2005.

OPG is responsible for registering lasting powers of attorney (LPA) and enduring powers of attorney (EPA) and supervising deputies who are appointed by the Court of Protection.

OPG is a fantastic place to work offering a range of development opportunities.  The OPG is a disability confident employer and is committed to developing a supportive and inclusive environment that reflects the diverse community we serve.

OPG is currently delivering an ambitious transformation programme. This will change the way we provide services and help us meet the growing needs of our users, partners and our stakeholders. It will make sure our users experience a better level of support and will help us to respond to the changing needs of society. Transformation will ensure we can better support adults at risk and create high-quality services that are accessible and affordable.

Team Overview

You will be part of the Tier 1 Complaints Team, dealing with customer complaints which will be received into our inbox from all areas of Power of Attorney Services (PoAS). The complaints will be made by both customers and professionals. You will be allocated work and will investigate and try to resolve the issues by liaising with relevant business areas. You will be expected to produce work to a high standard, manage your own workloads and ensure complainants are responded to within tight deadlines. You will need to attend the office at least 40% of your working week (equates to 2 days if full time) in line with the MOJ mandate, as you will have paper files and correspondence to process.

Duties and Responsibilities 

Job Description – Complaints Officer – EO

Key responsibilities include but are not restricted to the following:

• Investigate and respond to complaints within 10 working days adhering to personal targets.
• Ensuring personal stats are accurate and submitted on a daily basis.
• Ensuring database and Sirius are updated once complaint has been completed. Ensuring events and comments are detailed providing a full explanation of the issue, actions undertaken and resolution.
• Ensuring all paperwork is actioned in a timely manner and returned to responsible area/keeper once complaint has been resolved.
• Action payments and fee waivers according to set processes.
• Following a response being drafted and sent, provide feedback to relevant business areas to ensure the reasons for complaints are resolved. Ensure that teams are aware of any problems, which may have led to the complaint in the first instance as part of the continuous improvement process.
• Provide liaison via dedicated SI-POCs to all business areas.
• Support teams across POAS in drafting responses to difficult enquiries where appropriate.
• Liaising with teams across OPG including legal, information assurance, and policy teams to help resolve complaints, seeking up to date and relevant information to strengthen complaint responses. This may also include collaborating with colleagues in supervision and investigations where a joined-up approach is required to provide a full and informed response.
• Investigate and draft responses to security breach complaints in line with GDPR and regularly liaise with IA on ICO complaints.
• Provide advice via email, on the phone or in person on how best a complaint should be handled, to include information on quality, content, handling strategy etc. including Birmingham and Nottingham Offices.
• Draft responses for Tier 1+ complaints on behalf of senior leaders, as well as submissions to Ministers and provide assistance to independent Ombudsman enquiries.
• Work with teams such as the Quality Analyst team to provide complaints data to assist with ongoing customer focused work and priorities.
• Line management responsibilities in line with OPG/MoJ policies and procedures.
• Ensuring MI stats are completed daily according to business needs.
• Ensuring monthly stats and data requested from other business areas are submitted accurately and on time.
• Ensure NIPA log is created and submitted on the allotted day each week.
• Supporting the digital transactions unit by adhering to the banking rota.

Agreed Expectations

The successful candidate will be expected to work from their base location on a weekly basis in line with current Civil Service requirements, outside of any reasonable adjustments. You will need to attend the office at least 40% of your working week (equates to 2 days if full time) in line with the MOJ guidelines.

Skills & Qualifications

Essential Skills

• Excellent communication skills (Written and oral) – Lead criteria
• Ability to organise and prioritise workloads.
• Ability to interpret information and make informed decisions – Lead criteria
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office Applications.
• Ability to empathise with customers.

Desirable Skills

The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates.

• Previous experience of complaints handling.
• Knowledge of Lasting Powers of Attorney

Application process

This recruitment will follow the Civil Service Success Profile process. Candidates will be expected to provide a Personal Statement of Suitability of no more than 750 words in support of your application based on the essential and desirable skills. Successful sift candidates will then sit an assessment to test their letter writing skills and will be expected to attend the office for this. The assessment will require the candidates to answer a generic complaint under timed conditions.

In the event of a large number of applications, a preliminary sift will take place against the two lead criteria’s as follows:

• Excellent communication skills (Written and oral) – Lead criteria
• Ability to interpret information and make informed decisions – Lead criteria

Candidates who pass the preliminary sift will then progress to a full sift against the essential and desirable skills listed above. The desirable criteria will be used in the event of tied scores.

Written Assessment

The assessment will consist of a 45-minute test, where candidates will be required to produce a written response to a fictitious complaint. We will be assessing the candidates letter writing skills which will include grammar, spelling and how well they use the principles of ‘The human voice of justice.’ We will also be evaluating the response to ensure all points raised in the complaint have been adequately addressed.

The assessment will be completed in-person under supervision.

Interview Process

If you are successful at the sift and assessment, you will be invited to an interview which will use the Civil Service Success Profiles. At interview, candidates should expect questions on:

• Strengths relevant to the role
• The following Behaviours at Level 2 (EO):
• Communicating and influencing
• Managing a quality service
• Your Experience of customer service

All interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Reasonable Adjustments

At OPG we consider all applications based on merit and want you to feel able to demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. If you require any reasonable adjustments for any aspect of the selection process, do not hesitate to contact us.

As a Disability Confident organisation, we will offer a guaranteed interview to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for this role. If you are applying for a role within OPG and would like to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme, please indicate this in your application and let us know of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the selection process.

For further information on benefits of working for OPG, such as our Flexible Working Policy and a FAQ, please check the candidate information pack attached to this advert.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, we may offer you an alternative role at the same or lower grade should one be available.