Complaints & Improvement Specialist

Complaints & Improvement Specialist Location:
Halifax / Hybrid Department:
Customer Experience Contract type:
Permanent / Full-time About the role

We’re looking for a Complaints & Improvement Specialist to join our Customer Experience Team. The Complaints & Improvement Specialist resolves customer complaints and uses what those complaints reveal to remove the causes. The role carries two responsibilities of equal weight: delivering fair, timely and evidence-based outcomes for individual customers, and identifying the root causes behind recurring failures so that they are corrected at source.

Sitting within Customer Experience, the role is the link between individual cases and the operational change that prevents them recurring. The Specialist investigates and resolves complaints in line with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requirements, then analyses complaint, feedback and operational data to identify themes, quantify their impact, and present recommendations to operational teams.

Activate Group is a growing UK business with 1,000+ team members nationwide. This is an exciting opportunity to build a long-term career with a company that values its people and offers genuine development and progression opportunities.

Complaint management and resolution

• Manage customer complaints from receipt through to resolution, within FCA Dispute Resolution (DISP) timescales, company procedures and agreed service standards
• Conduct thorough and proportionate investigations, gathering and testing evidence, documentation and accounts from all parties involved.
• Communicate clearly and empathetically with customers throughout the complaint journey, providing regular updates and setting realistic expectations.
• Deliver fair, evidence-based outcomes and proportionate redress that balance customer needs with business objectives.
• Produce high-quality written responses, including final response letters that meet FCA content requirements and set out referral rights to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
• Identify customers in vulnerable circumstances and adapt the approach, timescales and communication accordingly.
• Identify and elevate high-risk, complex, reputational or potential Financial Ombudsman Service cases promptly.
• Manage a personal caseload to time and quality standards, prioritising by customer impact and risk.

Root cause analysis and improvement

• Determine and record the root cause of every complaint at the point of closure.
• Analyse complaint and operational data to identify recurring themes, emerging risks and systemic failures.
• Produce clear findings and actionable recommendations, and present them to operational managers and senior stakeholders.
• Contribute complaint and root cause insight to service reviews, governance forums and customer experience improvement plans.

Stakeholder and work provider management

• Build and maintain effective working relationships with internal departments, repairers, suppliers and work providers.
• Liaise with repairers, suppliers and service partners to obtain information, investigate concerns and progress customer resolutions.
• Challenge and influence stakeholders where necessary so that customer interests are properly represented.
• Coordinate actions across multiple parties to keep resolution on track and within timescale.
• Act as the voice of the customer, advocating for fair outcomes and for the service improvements the evidence supports.
• Support work provider reporting and service reviews with complaint and root cause insight where required.

Governance and compliance

• Ensure all complaint handling activity meets FCA DISP rules, Consumer Duty obligations where applicable, company procedures and customer service standards.
• Maintain accurate, complete and auditable…