Head of Complaints and Customer Care in Manchester

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Head of Complaints and Customer Care (Band 8a) to lead our customer care services in Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. This is a great opportunity to step into a high‑profile, high‑impact role at the heart of quality, safety and patient experience. We are looking for an experienced leader to take on this role, someone who can drive a compassionate and kind customer‑focused approach, which will strengthen trust and ensure every voice is heard and acted upon. This role is pivotal in ensuring a compassionate, responsive and high‑quality experience for service users, carers and their families.

The role will provide strategic and operational oversight of complaints, PALS, concerns and compliments, acting as the Trust’s designated Complaints Manager and ensuring compliance with national standards and statutory requirements. You will lead a dedicated team, manage complex and sensitive cases, and work with senior clinicians and stakeholders to ensure feedback drives learning, improvement and safer care. This is an opportunity to shape and strengthen how the Trust listens and responds, at a time of focused improvement and increased organisational commitment to patient experience and governance.

Main duties of the job

The Head of Complaints and Customer Care is a senior leadership role with Trust‑wide responsibility for the operational management of customer care services which includes complaints, compliments, concerns/PALS and wider customer care processes. The post holder will act as the Trust’s designated Complaints Manager, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements, national guidance and best practice, while providing expert leadership to support a responsive, compassionate and high‑quality service for complainants which may include service users, carers, families and broader stakeholders (MP enquiries and CQC).

The postholder will ensure that our customer service function responds within agreed timescales and acts with compassion and kindness at all times. The postholder must be emotionally intelligent and able to hear difficult experiences and deal with emotionally driven concerns. They will provide support to the wider team and a space for reflection and containment. They will represent the Trust in relation to complex complaint matters, including liaison with external bodies such as the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and commissioners.

The role also includes leadership and development of the complaints and customer care team, ensuring high professional standards, strong performance, and a culture of continuous improvement, inclusion and accountability.

Education/Qualifications

• Degree level qualification or equivalent professional experience.
• Evidence of significant continuing professional development relevant to complaints, governance, patient experience, customer care or leadership.
• Postgraduate qualification or equivalent higher‑level study relevant to the role.
• Leadership or management qualification, or evidence of formal management development.
• Specialist training in complaints handling, investigation, patient experience, governance or quality improvement.
• Evidence of ongoing commitment to leadership and professional development.

Experience

• Significant experience of working in a senior complaints, concerns, customer care, patient experience or governance role.
• Experience of managing complex, sensitive or high‑risk complaints and coordinating high‑quality investigations and responses within tight timescales.
• Experience of advising and working with senior managers, clinicians and multidisciplinary teams to support complaint resolution, improve practice and embed learning.
• Experience of leading or managing staff, including performance management, development and maintaining high standards of service delivery.
• Experience of using data, reports and case management systems to monitor performance, identify themes and support service improvement.
• Experience of working within the NHS or wider public sector.
• Experience of working within a PALS, patient experience or equivalent customer care function.
• Experience of liaison with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, commissioners, regulators or partner organisations in relation to complaints.
• Experience of using Ulysses Risk Management System or an equivalent complaints and risk management system.
• Experience of leading service improvement, quality improvement or organisational learning initiatives arising from complaints or patient feedback.

Knowledge and Skills

• Detailed knowledge of statutory requirements, NHS guidance and best practice relating to complaints, concerns, compliments, customer care and the management of complex cases.
• Highly developed knowledge of governance, risk management, patient experience, organisational learning and quality improvement, with the ability to apply these within a complex healthcare environment.
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence in working in emotionally demanding situations.
• Ability to lead strategically and operationally, working autonomously to manage competing priorities, meet statutory deadlines and deliver a responsive, high‑quality service.
• Ability to analyse complex qualitative and quantitative information, identify themes, risks and hotspots, and translate findings into clear assurance reporting and measurable service improvement.
• Highly developed written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare complex reports, draft sensitive correspondence and present highly complex or contentious information to senior leaders, committees and external stakeholders.
• Ability to influence, negotiate and build credibility with senior clinicians, operational leaders, corporate teams, service users, carers and external agencies.
• Ability to lead, motivate and develop staff, set high professional standards and foster an inclusive, compassionate and high‑performing team culture.
• Strong digital and information management skills, including use of case management, reporting and office systems to support performance monitoring, data quality and service improvement.
• Knowledge of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman processes and the practical application of the NHS Complaint Standards.
• Knowledge of quality improvement methodologies and their application to complaints, feedback and service redesign.
• Knowledge of information governance, data protection and records management in relation to complaints and customer care.
• Experience of maintaining and developing case management or data systems to support timely reporting, trend analysis and service improvement.

Important Information about working for GMMH:

All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre‑employment checks. The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH. Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer. The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under‑represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities.