Mental Health Act Complaints Support Officer - MHA Operations, National Operations

Full Job Description

Grade E -  £24,244 (National Framework) or £29,646 (London Framework – if you are London office based or homebased and live within the boundary of the M25) – There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £553 per annum for those working from home

Contracted Hours:  Full time 37 hours per week

Contract Type:  Secondment/FTC for 2 years

Location : Homebased - Flexible

Closing date: Tuesday 30th April 2024  at 11.59pm 

Are you committed to helping us regulate health and social care within England?

When thinking about what drives you every day in your job, what keeps you motivated and passionate about your work what comes to mind?  For 3000+ people at the CQC we end each day knowing that we have made a difference to the lives of those most in need in our communities.  We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.  We are looking for people who are caring, demonstrate integrity and work well as part of a team to join with us and share in this sense of achievement.  If you would like to help us make a positive impact to health and social care within England, then read on.

The MHA Complaints Support Officer will provide support to senior managers in the MHA complaints team.
Investigating and responding to First Line Resolution complaints/enquiries re care provided under MHA, to meet agreed timescales for response, to triage complaints and identify themes, maintain, produce and update key records and systems for business area e.g. spreadsheet/complaints database.
Working collaboratively with colleagues within the National MHA Complaints Team and other directorates to provide an efficient, effective service and timely response to customers.

Your health and wellbeing are important to us and are supported through generous annual leave (starting at 27 days and rising with service to 32.5 days, plus 8 Bank Holidays), a cycle to work scheme, discounted gym vouchers and access to a free employee assistance service 24 hours a day. We also understand the importance of financial health and offer membership of the NHS pension scheme, contributing about 14% of basic salary. You will also be able to access discounts to supermarkets, high street stores, electronics, fleet cars, plus we also have an internal reward scheme which could see you earn yourself a voucher or two! All of our Homeworkers are also kitted out with everything they need to comfortably work from home.

We want to support you to succeed and be your very best, with opportunities for training and development along with the support of experienced managers and mentors.  

We want to make working for CQC a great experience for everyone, and to role model a diverse and representative culture. To support an inclusive environment where colleagues feel empowered to bring their whole self to work, we support a variety of staff networks, including the Race Equality Network, LGBT+ Equality Network, Carers Equality Network, Disability Equality Network and Gender Equality network.

The successful post-holder will be educated to GCSE A*-C/NVQ2, equivalent qualification level, or be able to demonstrate appropriate operational experience.
Your experience of working with other teams and building relationships at all levels will enable you to work collaboratively across teams and respond flexibly to directorate demands and priorities. With strong organisational skills, you will have the ability to prioritise and meet deadlines whilst working without close supervision and manage your own performance.
It is essential you have excellent IT skills in the use of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and have experience of using management information systems, collating and presenting information. You should also have good oral and written communication skills to be successful in this role.
Candidates will be expected to have a proven track record of delivering excellent customer service using attention to detail and strong organisational skills.

To provide guidance to staff in regard to the handling of Complaints/Enquiries about the use of the Mental Health Act and queries surrounding the process (with support from the NMHACMSNMHACO and NMHACO where required).
Investigate and respond to First Line Resolution (FLR) complaints/enquiries and deliver work to the required high standard, and within the agreed service level agreement.
Ensure any identified themes, concerns around activity or learning requirements identified as part of a complaint/enquiry are raised with the relevant teams, and actioned as appropriate.
Ensure that correspondence in relation to MHA complaints/enquiries are responded to within agreed timescales.
To provide regular updates to the other directorates regarding the progress of complaints within their area, and answer queries in regard to this.
To manage and prioritise workload within team to ensure timely responses to all communication from both internal and external customers.
Provide agreed levels of support to key meetings, including attendance, minuting and recording relevant action points.
Provide agreed levels of support for projects within the team.
Maintain, produce and update key records and systems for business area e.g. spreadsheet/complaints database.
Maintain records in line with Knowledge and Information Management policies and information access rights.
Contribute to your own performance development reviews and ensure personal development plan is owned, reviewed and progressed.
Attend/complete mandatory and other training as required to support individual development.
Maintain understanding and awareness of CQC policies and procedures, including equality and diversity, and ensure these are reflected in everyday practice.
Actively promote and protect equality, diversity and human rights through the duties of the role.
Support production of performance reports

A-level education or equivalent experience.
Demonstrates good interpersonal skills; an ability to deal with staff at all levels and with external stakeholders in a professional manner.
Experience of working within a fast-paced environment dealing with volume queries and information flows.
Good IT skills; competent in the use of Microsoft Office, particularly MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Ability to follow a process with good attention to detail and consistent accuracy.
Has a sound understanding of CQC and its activity under the Mental Health Act.
Strong team player
Good organisational skills with the ability to prioritise work and meet deadlines
Good verbal and written communication skills.
Commitment to delivery of customer service excellence.
Commitment to CQC purpose and Values

For an informal discussion or further information on the role, please contact Julie  Harrison, Mental Health Act Complaints Manager at

Individual adjustments... 

We are committed to being open and transparent around our processes and we endeavour to offer every candidate the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. We seek to support candidates to identify potential challenges and work with them to identify and facilitate reasonable adjustments as appropriate. Should you require assistance and/or would like to request a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact a member of the team via email:   

Note for internal candidates:

Note for external candidates: 

CQC are currently working through an organisational transformation programme which includes the creation of a new target operating model.   This role is offered as a fixed term contract as part of the transition process to that new model. For further information on this please visit 

CQC is committed to promoting a fair and inclusive workplace where all our people can flourish and reach their full potential. We know diverse teams allow for a more creative and productive environment and therefore encourage applications from everyone regardless of: age, gender/sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Our Values

Excellence – Meeting our challenge to be a high-performing organisation
Caring – Treating everyone with dignity and respect
Integrity – Demonstrating our passion for ‘doing the right thing’
Teamwork – Enabling us to be the best we can