Practice & Quality Officer in London

About CEDR

The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) specialises in mediation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). We are an independent non-profit organisation and a registered charity. Our aim is to provide society with skills and solutions for effective dialogue, and to bring about sustainable change. To achieve this, we operate in four main ways:

• Promoting mediation through events, schemes and services.
• Providing dispute resolution for individuals, businesses, and other organisations.
• Training mediators – to date, we’ve trained over 5,000 mediators worldwide.
• Offering consultancy to organisations to help prevent and resolve conflict.

About the Role

The successful candidate will undertake a wide variety of tasks crucial to the effective running of the business-to-consumer schemes operated by CEDR’s Complaint Redress Unit. The schemes employ a range of ADR methodologies including adjudication, arbitration, conciliation and complaints review, which the successful candidate will be able to confidently navigate. A core duty of the role will be to implement and promote CEDR’s Quality Assurance Framework, which is a set of quality standards based upon the six caseworker competencies established by the Ombudsman Association. The successful candidate will incorporate the Framework’s standards into all aspects of their work. They will be expected to demonstrate an ability to develop a detailed knowledge of CEDR’s consumer ADR schemes; consistently apply the relevant rules, law and guidance in a rational and pragmatic manner; take independent decisions that are accurate and fair; respect CEDR’s jurisdiction as well as the individual discretion of ADR officials; and complete a high volume of tasks whilst meeting strict deadlines. They will also be expected to anticipate any procedural, legal and commercial risks when undertaking their work and be able to adapt to these, keeping in mind the ‘bigger picture’.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Assessing challenges to the eligibility of cases with reference to the relevant scheme rules.
• Responding to enquiries and requests for guidance from all those involved in the case process.
• Critically evaluating the accuracy and quality of written decisions submitted by CEDR’s panel of ADR officials, with particular reference to the Quality Assurance Framework.
• Conducting random quality sampling of CEDR’s panel of ADR officials in order to monitor performance and identify further training needs as required by the Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator.
• Assisting the Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator in independently analysing data and trends in order to author substantial periodic technical reports, both company- and industry-focused, providing insights on performance, best practice and potential enhancements to the customer journey.
• Preparing recommended written responses to industry and regulatory consultations, for submission to the Principal Adjudicator, in order to offer CEDR’s experience and expertise to proposed changes to the ADR landscape.
• Assisting in the preparation of topical newsletters to inform stakeholders about developments within the schemes and industries covered by CEDR.
• Scheme-specific mentoring of prospective ADR officials, through mock and live cases, in order to evaluate performance in line with the Quality Assurance Framework and provide feedback to the Chief Adjudicator with views as to whether to approve their membership of CEDR’s panel.
• Assisting with the On-boarding new ADR officials onto CEDR’s panel as required by the Chief Adjudicator and the Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator.
• Assisting with mentoring current ADR officials in line with the Quality Assurance Framework where it has been identified that further training is required.
• Assisting the Chief Adjudicator in the preparation of practice directions and guidance to CEDR’s panel of ADR officials.
• Producing training guides covering scheme-specific subject matter and best practice for all those involved in the case process as required by the Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator.
• Assisting with identifying where training needs exist, both with companies and ADR officials, and producing and delivering the relevant bespoke training.
• Creating and presenting audio-visual content covering relevant ADR topics for CEDR’s media channels required by the Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator.
• When required, attending and participating actively in meetings and industry events with a range of stakeholders including ADR officials, consumer groups, regulators and subscribing businesses, leading such meetings where relevant.
• Preparing minutes and executive summaries for circulation where relevant and managing the effective delivery of agreed action points.
• Acting as an ADR official by carrying out adjudications, arbitrations, conciliations and complaint reviews across the range of CEDR’s consumer ADR schemes.
• Assisting with the production of summaries of key or novel completed cases for use as training material and for information purposes as required by the Chief Adjudicator and Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator.
• Redacting confidential information from completed decisions to allow them to be published for information purposes.
• Assisting with the creation or updating of scheme-specific test cases for the purposes of training and assessing prospective ADR officials as required by the Chief Adjudicator and Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator.
• Reviewing and responding to formal complaints made to CEDR about the provision of its consumer ADR services, with a particular focus on whether an ADR official has made an irrational interpretation of the law, whether evidence has been incorrectly assessed, and whether a decision has met the standards of the Quality Assurance Framework.
• Investigating feedback, gathered from CEDR’s customer satisfaction surveys, that calls into question the quality of written decisions, to determine whether an ADR official has met the standards of the Quality Assurance Framework.
• Periodically reviewing the operation and effectiveness of the process, content, public-facing information and training across all consumer ADR schemes provided by CEDR, with a view to making improvements and updates as required by the Quality Assurance Manager & Adjudicator.
• Preparing and participating in bids for new contracts and/or clients.
• Assisting in the set-up, including the creation of key documents and materials, of new consumer ADR schemes.

Essential Experience and Skills Required:

• Law degree or equivalent essential.
• Postgraduate vocational legal qualification (i.e. BPTC, LPC) preferred.
• Arbitration and/or mediation qualification preferred.
• Strong ability to quickly and accurately identify the salient issues and to distil and summarise complex information.
• Demonstrable experience of making difficult, evidence-based decisions on a fair and reasonable basis.
• Good general commercial experience (no sector specialism is necessary).
• Excellent written and grammatical skills with a high attention to detail and the ability to communicate clearly and concisely in plain English, with a tone appropriate to the relevant audience.
• Professional and approachable manner, with the self-confidence to deal with people with a wide range of roles and backgrounds.
• Strong organisational skills and initiative, with an ability to prioritise and multi-task under pressure to tight deadlines.
• Solid problem-solving skills, with an ability to identify, risk assess, propose and apply solutions to issues in real time.
• Active and collaborative team player supporting colleagues across the organisation.
• Strong IT skills, including knowledge of Microsoft Office packages and the ability to learn new systems and processes as required.

Hours: 35 hours per week 9:30am – 5:30pm with one hour for lunch. Flexibility is, however, essential as client requirements may dictate earlier start times, or later finishes, from time to time.

Salary: The salary for this role is £42,000 p.a. with 28 days annual leave.