About the job

Job summary

Are you passionate about helping consumers achieve the best possible outcome to their complaint about their water company or retailer?

We currently have exciting opportunities for individuals who are experienced in all aspects of providing excellent customer service; have strong communication skills, both verbal and written; have attention to detail with strong organisational skills; and who have excellent investigative, negotiation and problem-solving skills.

We are the independent voice for water consumers in England and Wales. Since 2005, we have helped thousands of consumers resolve complaints against their water company, while providing free advice and support. All of our work is informed by extensive research, which we use to champion the interests of consumers and influence water companies, governments and regulators.

The successful candidate will be able to use their proven experience of providing excellent customer service through taking ownership of complaints cases unresolved with water companies and retailers, received verbally or in writing, and undertaking investigations whilst being the key point of contact for consumers for the duration of the complaint to achieve the best possible outcome for them.

Additional information:-

• We offer comprehensive training
• successful candidates can be based in either our Birmingham or Cardiff office (subject to maximum occupancy levels in our Cardiff office)
• our current blended working policy sets the expectation that a full time member of staff will spend a minimum of eight working days each calendar month in the office
• during the induction training programme you may be required to attend the office on a more frequent basis than the eight days each calendar month
• successful candidates may be required to answer incoming calls from water consumers and due to the nature of the work, start and finish times of 08:30 –17:00, and breaks will be rostered for business need purposes
• successful candidates may be required to attend Company complaints assessments
• Advisors will start at the Associate level (salary £22,794 per annum) 

 Welsh speaking Advisors only

• will start at the Specialist level (salary £24,066 per annum)
• consideration may be given to requests to be home based although some office attendance will be required

Job description

As a Consumer Relations Advisor, you will be responsible for the handling of complaints in accordance with our Complaints Handling Policies & Procedures, assessing what help and advice CCW can provide to consumers of water companies and retailers, from the initial contact through to complaint resolution ensuring that all complaints and enquiries are managed fairly, promptly and clearly from beginning to end.

Key Duties and Accountabilities

Customer service and complaint handling

• Take ownership of complaints cases unresolved with water companies and retailers, undertaking investigations in full whilst recording, in detail, all stages of the review and subsequent outcome.
• To be the key point of contact for the duration of the complaint, helping resolve them by making fair, impartial decisions based on the facts presented whilst ensuring the consumer has had every opportunity to share the reasons why they remain dis-satisfied with the water company or retailer’s decision.
• Answer monitored incoming calls from household and business water consumers in England and Wales who require free advice and support, retaining complaints unable to be resolved at point of contact
• Undertake outbound calls to customers and water companies to gather information, discuss findings and come to a resolution.
• Direct involvement in the continuous improvement of our service through collaboration with a range of teams and individuals within CCW.
• Develop a good understanding of all matters affecting water consumers
• Discuss unusual and/or difficult complaints with the CRM and prepare briefing on complaints if higher escalation is required.
• Monitor and report to the CRM on complaint handling best practice from companies.
• Share complaint handling best practice with other Advisors
• Maintain and keep under review agreed standards and quality of complaint and enquiry handling.
• Pursue complaint resolution in line with CCW’s guidelines and draft all relevant complaint correspondence including challenges to water companies and decisions to consumers.
• Keep abreast of CCW and company policies and initiatives.

Stakeholder engagement/company liaison

• Potentially having dedicated responsibility for at least 1 water company, drafting reports, identifying issues and trends and becoming the point of contact for the specific company within CCW.
• Identify and highlight systematic issues which could be detrimental to water consumers and working with water companies and retailers to improve their approach to resolving complaints at the earliest opportunity.
• Lead on individual consumer complaints, identifying preferred outcomes for consumers; setting up meetings with appropriate company(‘s); negotiating preferred outcomes;.
• Where required attend and provide input at internal/external meetings and teleconferences with CCW colleagues to discuss company policies and initiatives; feeding back to rest of CR team where appropriate.
• Sharing observations and information, gained through resolving complaints and enquiries with relevant Policy colleagues, in a timely manner.

 

Other

• Administration and caseload management
• Actively promoting and embedding Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work. Supporting and complying with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

In addition to the duties described in this specification the jobholder will carry out such other duties as may reasonably be required.

Person specification

Essential

• Experience of working in a customer facing role.
• Experience of managing a caseload of enquiries and complaints
• Good MS Office skills, particularly MS Word.
• Ability to log and record information appropriately in the organisations CRM system.
• Analytical skills to digest and interpret information from a range of sources.
• Professional image.
• Experience of liaising with  external stakeholders in the process of resolving customer issues.
• Ability to engage with customers in a friendly and professional manner while actively listening to their concerns
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to convey information correctly and concisely.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills to proactively manage and prioritise your workload effectively.
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to use your own initiative, intuition, and effectively communicate with customers and colleagues.
  • We will assess you against our values during the selection process:

Desirable

• Be a fluent Welsh Speaker, able to answer queries from customers in Welsh and support our Welsh Language commitment
• Experience of working in or with a regulated industry
• Experience of resolving customer complaints via multiple channels including email & telephony.
• Willing to travel around England and Wales.
• Flexibility to work occasionally outside normal office hours if required.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £22,794, Consumer Council for Water contributes £6,154 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

If you are interested please apply using the apply tab which links to our CCW People First recruitment portal and submit both your CV and a statement of suitability (no more than 2 pages) which outlines how your key skills and experience match to the job description and person specification, explaining your suitability for the role.

The selection process will include:

• A sift using the content of your CV and statement of suitability
• Interviews in person or via Teams w/c 5 February

Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) - We guarantee an interview to anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post. To be eligible for the guaranteed interview scheme you must have a disability or long term health condition. The disability could be physical, sensory or mental and must be expected to last for at least 12 months. You do not have to be registered as a disabled person to apply under the scheme. If you would like to apply through this scheme, please complete the relevant form and return separately to your application at recruitment@ccwater.org.uk

We want everyone to have a fair chance, no matter their gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, beliefs, age, or family status. All applications are considered fairly based on merit. To enable us to do this, candidates are asked to complete the voluntary Equal Opportunity Monitoring form. The information provided will be kept confidential and will be used for monitoring purposes only. Please return this form separately to recruitment@ccwater.org.uk

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.