Complaints Officer

We are looking for a Complaints Officer to join the Regulatory team  and manage a portfolio of complaints and enquiries, supporting the OEP’s regulatory function to assess and investigate allegations of non-compliance with environmental law. 

The Office for Environmental Protection (the OEP) mission is to protect and recover the environment. Created by the Environment Act 2021, our role is to hold Government and public bodies to account. The OEP do this in several ways including reporting on progress against environmental targets, advising on changes to environmental laws and receiving complaints from the public which can lead to us taking enforcement action. 

This role sits within the Regulatory Directorate, which is responsible for delivery of key functions as set out in the Environment Bill. These are monitoring, investigating, and enforcing the implementation of environmental Law, and advising the government on the development of Law and other matters relating to the natural environment.  

With a total staff of just over 70, we are a small, dynamic, friendly and flexible organisation covering both England, Northern Ireland, and environmental matters reserved to the UK government. We offer flexible working arrangements, high profile, dynamic work and the chance to have an impact on improving the state of the environment. 

To find out more about the OEP, what we do, who we are and our current work, visit the OEP website. 

The OEP is a non-departmental public body sponsored by Defra in England and DEARA in Northern Ireland which means it operates independently from Defra and DAERA and is not part of the UK Civil Service. Our employees are public servants. 

The OEP Complaints and Investigations team prioritises, manages, and investigates complaints about alleged breaches of environmental law by public authorities. The team are responsible for handling complaints in an efficient manner and for assessing in accordance with the OEP enforcement policy all eligible complaints to determine the most appropriate course of action for the OEP to take. This may include robust negotiations with public authorities to agree solutions and resolve compliance issues.   

The advertised role sits within the Complaints function, which oversees the development, maintenance and application of the OEP’s complaints handling procedures, and takes the lead on determining whether complaints meet the eligibility criteria to allow further consideration by the OEP, as set out in the Environment Act 2021. The complaints team are also responsible for assessing eligible complaints to determine whether or not there is evidence of a failure to comply with environmental law, and if so would it meet the OEP’s thresholds for seriousness and prioritisation. The investigation of cases deriving from complaints will be handled primarily by the Complaints team, with the Investigations team advising and providing support as needed. The Complaints and Investigations teams work closely, cooperatively and flexibly, agreeing priorities and resource allocations across all of their areas.  

As such the successful candidate will be competent in analysing large amounts of information, identifying solutions and engaging with public authorities to agree suitable remedies. Where a suitable solution cannot be found, they may also need to escalate cases to the OEP Board to decide if enforcement action should be started and support the OEP legal team with enforcement action. As this role is public facing, the successful candidate will need to be confident in engaging with complainants and stakeholders to provide updates and deliver decisions in relation to complaints and enquiries.    

The role holder will; 

• Determine the eligibility of complaints submitted to the OEP to confirm whether they are within the OEP’s remit and produce high quality written assessments explaining and documenting the rationale behind the decision.  
• Prioritise complaints and support investigations into serious cases being carried out by Senior Complaints and Investigations Officers.
• Lead investigations into medium priority cases, manage relationships with complainants and public authorities, identifying and making recommendations on appropriate remedies.
• Provide excellent customer service to members of the public who have submitted complaints, providing timely updates, managing expectations, and signposting complaints to the relevant public authority where appropriate.  
• Work with the legal team and other specialist teams as necessary to inform complaints triage and assessment.
• Ensure the complaints case management system is kept up to date with all correspondence on complaints and cases they are handling.  
• Prepare operational reports on the complaints function for the SEO Senior Complaints Officer and G7 Complaints Manager.
• Display flexibility to assist with wider OEP project work where necessary, in support of the OEP’s mission to protect and improve the natural environment.

The above list of job duties is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Essential Criteria;  

• Proven experience of managing customer/stakeholder relations 
• Experience of or sound understanding and knowledge of environmental regulations and UK environmental law. 
• Proven analytical skills to reach decisions based on evaluating a range of evidence. 
• Experience of managing casework in a case or complaints handling environment.   
• Ability to prioritise and coordinate workload to effectively handle complaints and enforcement activity. 
• Strong verbal communication and experience of negotiating agreements or solutions between parties.  
• Excellent written communication and experience of producing high quality, formal, written reports.  
• M/S office (or equivalent) and core business applications

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Managing a Quality Service

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Interpreting & Analysing Data

Pension  

The OEP offers a generous defined benefit, inflation-proof Civil Service Pension which is a valuable part of your total reward package. Upon joining the OEP, staff can opt to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme which, depending on salary, offers a personal contribution rate of between 4.6% and 7.35%, and an employer contribution rate of between 26.6% and 30.3%. There is also the option to join a partnership scheme. Full details and benefits of the options available to you can be found on the Civil Service Pension Portal. 

Leave and Flexible Working 

The OEP offers 25 days annual leave rising to 30 days over 5 years for all new entrants.   

Additional paid leave is available where necessary to cater for a variety of situations including, but not limited to, family-related leave, volunteering days, exam and study leave, public duties and trade union activities. In addition, we offer a generous enhanced maternity leave, parental leave and shared parental leave policy. 

The OEP is supportive of flexible working and has a flexible working policy to allow for variations in individuals working hours where this is compatible with business need. 

Performance Management and In Year Bonus Scheme 

The OEP is committed to promoting a high-performing culture for all employees.  Performance and development management is key to developing trusting relationships between managers and employees so that they can be their best and thrive at work. Every individual will have a performance management plan which will be reviewed on a regular basis.  

The OEP has a quarterly ‘In-year Bonus Scheme’ where individuals and/ or teams can be recognised for outstanding one-off contributions and achievements. 

Learning and Development 

The OEP is a learning organisation and strongly supports the continuous professional development of all employees through both personal and work related study. The OEP will pay for one relevant profession membership per employee to support continuous professional development.

Every employee has access to five days learning and development each year to support professional development. This could be through Civil Service Learning mandatory and voluntary learning, corporate inductions, staff events and welcome days as well as relevant professional qualifications and specific courses. 

Staff Wellbeing 

Staff wellbeing is extremely important and the OEP strives to provide access to numerous resources to aid the wellbeing of its employees. Current initiatives include: 

• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) providing free and confidential 24/7 telephone advice and guidance to support employees with both personal and employment issues. This may include personal wellbeing, career development or legal matters such as landlord / tenant disputes.  
• Access to an Occupational Health Service to provide a range of support service to help with the way you feel at work.  
• Access to trained Mental Health First Aiders and wider Defra Group mental health first aid network and resources. 
• Free access to Headspace, a mindfulness, meditation and sleep app. 
• Access to a Financial Wellbeing Portal. 
• Free eye tests and a contribution to glasses/ lenses if required for VDU use. 

Salary Sacrifice, Discounts and SmartTech Benefits 

All employees have access to the STaR, Reward Gateway an online platform providing access to hundreds of discounts, offers and cashback options with well-known retailers. They offer a SmartTech scheme, a Cash Heathcare plan and numerous other benefits and services. 

Job contact :

• Name : OEP Recruitment
• Email : recruitment@theoep.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@theoep.org.uk