Customer Relations (Complaints) Support Officer - 12 Month Fixed Term Contract

Customer Relations Complaints Support Officer

Origin – Great homes, positive people and strong communities

12 Month Fixed Term Contract – Salary £33,075 per annum + Benefits

A home is the essential foundation for a good quality of life, so what we do every day really matters to the wellbeing of our communities. Here at Origin, we trace our roots back 100 years, building and managing high quality homes as well as providing support services and housing for those who are most vulnerable in London and Hertfordshire. We work to provide safe, decent affordable homes and support for individuals and communities.

Focused on our residents, our driving ambition is to provide services that make people’s lives easier, and homes and communities they can be proud to live in. We are ‘not for profit’ and reinvest all our surpluses back into our varied and vibrant neighbourhoods.

The role – Customer Relations (Complaints) Support Officer

As our Customer Relations (Complaints) Support Officer, you’ll take direct ownership and responsibility for providing proactive support across key activities supporting the Customer Relations Team and Manager. This will include managing all incoming contact and communication from residents directed to the Customer Relations Team.

As an integral part of the Customer Relations Team, you will be working closely with managers and teams across the organisation, and a primary function of the role is to monitor incoming complaints, MP and Housing Ombudsman enquiries and subject access requests. You’ll be responsible for ensuring formal complaints are correctly recorded and assigned to appropriate colleagues and collecting and recording accurate data about complaints for a wide variety of reporting functions.

This role would suit a self-motivated person who thrives on a varied workload with tight deadlines in a busy customer focused environment. This role involves excellent communication and interpersonal skills. It also requires high attention to detail combined with the ability to progress duties effectively in line with procedures.

What you’ll do

You will:

• In conjunction with the Customer Relations Team and Manager, support delivering a professional complaints service, providing excellent customer service in a constructive and supportive way by listening to and engaging with customers using their preferred method of contact and communication.
• Effectively manage the complaints inbox and coordinate a wide variety of customer contact inline with defined timescales and SLA’s.
• Accurately record customer complaints and subsequent contact in the customer relationship management (CRM) system. Ensure record keeping of complaints cases on CRM is accurate and up to date.
• Take the lead on the response to subject access requests, responding to the Governance Team with details of relevant complaints, service requests and appropriate customer records.
• Co-ordinate contact from the Housing Ombudsman and allocate enquiries to relevant team colleagues.
• Provide general support to the Customer Relations Manager and Team when required.
• Support the Customer Relations Team in the research of previous issues, service requests and historic repair records.
• Handle and process customer compensation requests where required.
• In some cases, provide professional written responses to customers.
• Undertake any other duties as may reasonably be required in line with the level of responsibility of the post and to meet the changing needs of the team and organisation.

Skills and experience we’d like you to have

We’re looking for someone who has/is:

• Excellent level of ICT skills (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and database usage).
• Very well organised, with the ability to self-manage a diverse and varied workload, prioritising personal and team work effectively to produce high quality outcomes.
• A high degree of initiative, resourcefulness, flexibility and a self-motivating approach, with an ability to work with minimal supervision but also with a clear understanding when issues need to be escalated.
• High attention to detail including record keeping.
• Ability to think analytically, to apply skills and knowledge in new contexts and to problem solve.
• A clear understanding of complaints.
• Proven high level of customer service when dealing with a diverse group of customers.
• Ability to complete highly detailed work within sometimes short deadlines.

Our Values

Our core values are at the heart of how we work:

• Take the lead
• Create energy
• Build trust
• Be generous
• Stay grounded
• Remember the little things

We’re committed to the wellbeing of our people and in creating an environment that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Our benefits to you

• Origin’s ways of working make it easier for you to balance work and home life. You will benefit from flexible working which offers you the opportunity to work from where you are most effective, with the technology and equipment you need, as well as access to flexible space for collaborative working.
• 12 Month Fixed Term Contract at the Salary of £33,075 per annum.
• A generous 25-day holiday allowance plus bank holidays, that increases with time, with the opportunity to buy and sell leave.
• 2 additional ‘giving something back’ volunteer days.
• A pension scheme with contributions from 4% – 8% of your salary.
• Family leave, compassionate leave and enhanced maternity pay.
• Simply Health cash plan providing money back when you spend on health appointments including physiotherapy, dental and opticians.
• Interest free loans to help spread the cost of a season ticket or another big purchase.
• Annual staff conference, team away days and annual team meal allowance.
• Access to Perk Box for fantastic savings on everyday purchases and much more.
• Free employee assistance programme.
• Opportunities to join staff network groups.
• Refer a friend bonus.

We’re also committed to ensuring that our people have access to an excellent range of learning and development opportunities including our induction programme, course sponsorship, leadership development, mentoring and talent schemes along with professional membership if it’s a requirement to your role.

Tell us your story

We are looking forward to learning about you. Please help us get to know you by sending your latest CV and covering letter detailing how your skills and experience meet the requirements for the role of Customer Relations (Complaints) Support Officer.

Closing date for applications: Sunday 9th March 2025

Interviews to be held: Week commencing 10th March 2025

Please note that suitable candidates will be invited to interview throughout the application window and therefore the vacancy may close at short notice. However, all candidates will be advised of the outcome of their application and therefore interested candidates are encouraged to apply at their earliest convenience.

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