Head of Customer Access and Experience

Connect2Luton are excited to recruit a Head of Customer Access & Experience on behalf of Luton Borough Council.

Main purpose of position:

1. Customer Access & Contact: Lead the Council's customer access and contact function across frontline and service-specific teams, ensuring residents can obtain the information, advice, support and services they need through effective, accessible and sustainable service channels.
2. Customer Insight & Experience: Lead the Council's approach to understanding, measuring and improving resident experience of accessing the Council's services through performance management, standard setting, quality assurance, workforce development, customer insight and organisational learning.
3. Corporate Complaints: Lead the Council's corporate complaints function, ensuring effective complaint resolution, regulatory compliance and robust corporate oversight of the Council's complaints framework.
4. Strategic Leadership: Lead the development and delivery of the Council's customer access and experience strategy, working with services across the organisation, residents and partners to ensure positive outcomes and driving continuous improvement.
5. Operational Leadership: Provide strategic direction for the Customer Access & Experience service, with accountability for people, financial and political management, ensuring resources, services and partnerships are aligned to corporate priorities and organisational objectives.

You will be responsible to:

• Own the performance of the corporate front door across telephone, digital and face-to-face channels. Ensure customer demand is managed effectively, driving innovation and efficiency and ensuring service standards are consistently achieved. Lead the delivery of customer access and contact services across frontline and specialist teams.
• Act as the senior relationship lead for services operating through the corporate front door. Agree service standards, operating models and accountabilities with service directorates. Resolve cross-service issues and promote joined-up working across the organization.
• Lead the continuous improvement of customer access, customer journeys and contact handling. Drive channel shift, demand management and service efficiency initiatives including through technology. Ensure resident needs, feedback and insight inform service design and delivery.
• Establish and oversee customer-focused performance and quality assurance frameworks. Ensure services monitor performance, identify issues and implement corrective action. Promote consistency, accountability and high standards across customer-facing services across the council.
• Review and approve high-risk, complex, politically sensitive or multi-agency complaint responses. Act as the final decision-maker regarding the application of the Council's Unacceptable Behaviour and Vexatious Complainant policies. Intervene in complex or escalating complaints to mitigate financial, legal or reputational risk.
• Use complaint data and findings to identify systemic issues and organisational risks. Work with Heads of Service to ensure learning from complaints informs policy, service design and continuous improvement. Present the Annual Complaints Report to the Chief Executive, Corporate Management Team and relevant committees.
• Lead, develop and motivate managers and teams across the service. Set clear expectations and maintain high standards of performance and conduct. Promote a positive, inclusive and resident-focused culture. Work with service managers and the Council's People Services to embed good practice, behaviour/culture change and relational working approaches across the organisation.

Skills and Experience:

• Significant experience of managing large-scale customer access
• Proven experience of translating strategic objectives into operational delivery, service redesign and measurable improvements in performance and resident outcomes
• Substantial experience of leading complex organisational change, transformation programmes and operating model redesign within customer-facing environments
• Proven ability to lead, deliver and embed service improvement in a high-volume customer facing service
• Proven ability to establish and embed performance management, quality assurance and accountability frameworks that drive continuous improve
• Excellent leadership, communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage, motivate and challenge colleagues at all levels, including senior leaders and elected Members
• Proven ability to use data, customer insight and evidence to inform decision-making, identify improvement opportunities and manage demand
• In-depth understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion principles and relevant legislation and how it relates to the role
• In-depth knowledge of customer access, contact management, customer experience and complaints management principles and best practice
• Strong knowledge of innovation and emerging best practice in customer access, customer experience and resident services
• Degree-level qualification, relevant professional qualification or equivalent experience gained through senior leadership roles

About Us

Luton Borough Council have partnered with Kent County Council to create Connect2Luton, a recruitment managed service for all contingent temporary agency, contract, and interim roles at the Council.

Our heritage and being local government owned which means we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise within the public sector, with many of our employees having previously worked for the Council or have supplied previously into the Council, for several years.

We are an equal opportunities employment agency and business that positively encourages applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates.

Connect2Luton is a trading style of Luton & Kent Commercial Services LLP - A joint venture between Luton Borough Council & Commercial Services Kent Ltd. Connect2Luton is an equal opportunities Employment Agency & Business. It positively encourages applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates.