Unitas Customer Experience Officer/Admin – Housing

Temporary Unitas Customer Experience Officer/Admin x 2 – Housing
Job Ref: Stoke 5258844
Pay Rate: £15.38 per hour PAYE
Hours per week: 37 Monday – Friday, normal working hours
Role Length: This opening assignment is for 6-7 months
City: Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire

The purpose of the role is to act as a conduit for all proactive outbound customer communications with the aim of keeping Unitas customers informed throughout our customer journey and reducing unnecessary complaints.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Lead on the management of complaints, Housing Ombudsman cases, MP service requests, Councillor enquiries, Freedom of Information Requests (FOI’s) and the resolution of complex customer issues and enquiries for all services provided by Unitas.
2. Be responsible for providing first point of contact resolution to all customers accessing the Unitas feedback service.
3. Provide an excellent service to customers who have complaints, ensuring that concerns are fully understood and addressed comprehensively, minimising further issues. Taking responsibility for ensuring that customer communications are of a high quality and meet the requirements of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code and the City Council’s Complaints Policy.
4. Work closely with all services areas within the business to investigate and resolve the issues to ensure that satisfactory outcomes are achieved.
5. Provide reports to the business as required, highlighting learning from complaints and identifying areas where service improvements need to be developed.
6. Deliver the continual development of the Customer Experience Service through training with a focus on developing approaches to embed the learning.
7. Be responsible for the co-ordination, investigation and management of complaints, MP service requests, Councillor enquiries and FOI’s.
8. Ensure that all complaints, service requests and enquiries are responded to within the relevant corporate and statutory timescales, maximising early resolution and keeping the customers updated throughout the process.
9. Act as a customer excellence expert for all Unitas employees with any queries about complaints and enquiries. Encourage and promote the delivery of excellence in all work areas by providing accurate timely solutions and advice to all queries.
10. Assist with Housing Ombudsman cases in line with procedural and regulatory requirements, gathering information in an effective way to ensure that deadlines are met.
11. Act as the main link officer, liaising directly with the Housing Ombudsman on all relevant matters, undertaking investigations and collating all relevant documentation on behalf of Unitas.

Qualifications:

1. Good level of education including Maths and English (GCSE Grade A*-C) or equivalent or relevant experience.
2. NVQ level 2 or an equivalent qualification in a subject relevant to providing outstanding customer service.

Skills & Experience:

1. Minimum of 12 months recent experience in a similar role, or context and ideally within a public sector organisation.
2. Experience of developing and delivering training programmes/workshops to staff.
3. Experience of maintaining and utilising appropriate IT systems to assist with delivery of management information.
4. Experience of meeting deadlines in a fast-paced customer service environment.
5. Customer focussed, with a high level of commitment to delivering excellent services to internal and external customers and stakeholders.
6. Highly developed interpersonal skills and the ability to establish positive relationships with staff at all levels, elected Members, external agencies, groups and individuals and the ability to negotiate and persuade people – i.e. tenants.
7. An in-depth knowledge of customer feedback procedures, with an awareness of housing legislation and the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code.
8. Ability to analyse data and identify service improvement requirements.