The role of the Complaint Manager

This guide is aimed at officers who are responsible for managing and designing complaints systems within their organisation. This role may be carried out by more than one person.

Complaints systems are made up of a series of interconnected parts. It is important complaint managers understand how this operates within wider systems within an organisation.

At the heart of the complaints system is the internal process for receiving and handling complaints. This is the process through which all information about complaints flows. It is important that complaint managers understand how the process interacts with related processes in individual services, such as appeals, and how complaints can feed into oversight and scrutiny mechanisms.

This guide sets out how the Complaint Handling Code may be used to deliver effective complaint systems within organisations. Each organisation will have different needs depending on services it delivers and the demographics of those who use local services. There is no one size fits all model for managing complaints effectively. This guide sets out examples of good practice which complaints managers may consider when developing and managing local complaint systems.