Reference: REQ6972
Description: Full Time / 37 Hours Per week / Fixed Term for 12 months
Overview
Are you a team player who would like to join our service as a Complaints and Access to Records Officer? You will join a small but dedicated team that provides a valuable service to individuals who have used our service both currently and in the past. This is an exciting time to join Leicester City Council and be part of our improving service, ensuring children are at the heart of our work. The Complaints and Access to Records Team sits within the Children\'s Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Service and includes a Service Manager, Senior Officers, Complaints and Access to Records Officers and an Admin and Business Support Officer. The team advises, guides and supports individuals who want to make a complaint or have access to their social care records, and provides social care records to the police for use in criminal cases. Indirectly, the work can highlight areas to improve services provided by the Social Care and Education division.
After an initial office-based induction you\'ll work flexibly between home and Halford House. This is a full-time, fixed term role with core hours 8:30am-5:00pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30am-4:30pm on Friday. Flexible working hours are available.
We will consider this vacancy on a secondment basis for Leicester City Council employees. If applying on secondment, please inform your line manager before applying.
What you'll be doing
* Liaise daily with individuals who have been under the care of children\'s services, or their parents, advocates or solicitors, regarding complaints or requests for access to records (SAR - Subject Access Requests).
* Hold a SAR caseload and discuss with requesters in a compassionate manner what information they want and how they would like to receive it.
* Redact third-party information from social care files before release and keep accurate records of all work.
* Accurately record complaints, explain the complaints procedure and manage the process to ensure they progress within the legal framework.
* Hold a caseload of police and CPS requests and liaise with officers to agree timescales for information on social care records for use in criminal prosecutions.
What you'll need
* Knowledge and understanding of the children\'s statutory complaints process, Data Protection, information governance and the SAR process; experience of working on sensitive issues in a complex organisation.
* Excellent communication skills; ability to deal effectively with individuals, families and external organisations such as police and other agencies.
* Ability to follow procedures in accordance with legislation and statutory processes; confident in explaining necessary actions.
* Empathy, resilience and the ability to handle distressing information; capacity to develop coping mechanisms for this work.
* Ability to deal with people over the telephone who may be irate or aggressive.
What we can offer you
* Healthy work/life balance with flexible working options.
* Generous annual leave and Local Government Pension Scheme membership.
* Training and development opportunities and a range of flexible benefits (discounts on city buses and trains).
* Benefits calculator for illustrative values.
Join us
We are committed to recruiting a diverse and talented workforce and aim to build a council that is representative of our city. Our recruitment process is designed to be fair and welcoming. For an informal discussion about this post, contact Therese Ball or another team member on 0116 454 2430. Interviews/assessments will take place on 11 May.
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