Resident Complaints Investigator
Department: Dedicated complaints team
Location: Heathrow Immigration Removal Centres, UK (with potential travel to other sites)
Reporting to: Complaints Manager
Salary: £31,185 per annum, plus benefits including pension scheme, 25 days annual leave, and access to employee assistance programmes.
Hours: Full-time, 40 hours per week (flexible working may be available, including occasional out-of-hours duties).
Contract Type: Permanent
Role Purpose
As a Complaints Investigator in our Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), you will be instrumental in upholding fairness, transparency, and detainee welfare by investigating complaints raised by individuals in detention. This role involves thoroughly examining allegations related to treatment, conditions, or services within the IRC, ensuring resolutions are impartial, timely, and compliant with UK legal standards, including the Human Rights Act, Equality Act, and Home Office detention guidelines.
Operating in a secure and sensitive environment, you will work closely with operational staff, management, and external oversight bodies such as the Independent Monitoring Board or Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. Your work will contribute to improving standards, promoting accountability, and supporting the IRC's commitment to humane and lawful detention for those subject to immigration control. This position requires empathy, objectivity, and resilience in handling potentially distressing matters.
Key Responsibilities
- Conduct Investigations: Investigate detainee complaints by collecting evidence, interviewing complainants, witnesses, and staff, and reviewing records such as incident logs, medical notes, CCTV footage, and correspondence. Ensure processes are fair, trauma-informed, and completed within statutory timescales.
- Case Management: Handle a portfolio of complaints, assessing their validity, prioritising urgent cases (e.g., those involving safeguarding or health), and producing comprehensive reports with findings, recommendations, and proposed remedies. Escalate serious issues to senior management or external authorities as required.
- Compliance and Improvement: Analyse complaint trends to identify systemic issues or areas for enhancement. Recommend policy changes, staff training, or procedural adjustments to prevent recurrence, while ensuring adherence to data protection (GDPR), whistleblowing, and IRC standards.
- Stakeholder Liaison: Communicate effectively with detainees (considering language barriers and vulnerabilities), internal teams (e.g., Welfare, Healthcare, Security), and external partners like the Home Office or advocacy groups. Provide updates on complaint progress and facilitate resolutions.
- Support and Guidance: Offer advice to staff on handling initial complaints and best practices for detainee interactions. Assist in developing complaint-handling protocols and deliver awareness sessions to promote a responsive culture.
- Reporting and Administration: Maintain accurate, confidential records in compliance with audit and reporting requirements. Utilise case management systems to track complaints and generate statistical reports for management review.
Person Specification
Essential Qualifications and Experience
- Demonstrated experience in conducting complaint investigations. This can be within a secure setting or within a customer centric organisation.
- At least 3 years' experience in investigative or complaints-handling work, with a focus on sensitive matters.
Desirable Qualifications and Experience
- Knowledge of UK immigration detention policies, human rights legislation, safeguarding vulnerable adults, and equality principles.
- Background in immigration, asylum, social care, or detainee welfare sectors.
- Experience with vulnerable populations, including trauma-informed interviewing techniques.
- Familiarity with Home Office detention rules, the Adults at Risk policy, and complaints frameworks like the Detention Centre Rules.
Skills and Competencies
- Investigative Skills: Strong analytical thinking, attention to detail, and impartiality under pressure. Skilled in evidence gathering, empathetic interviewing (e.g., using the PEACE model adapted for vulnerabilities), and clear report writing.
- Communication and Empathy: Excellent interpersonal skills for engaging with diverse stakeholders, including non-English speakers. Ability to convey findings sensitively and accessibly.
- Resilience and Ethics: High integrity, discretion, and emotional resilience to manage challenging or emotive complaints. Dedication to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- Technical Proficiency: Proficient in MS Office, case management tools, and data analysis. Willingness to undergo enhanced DBS checks and security vetting.
- Problem-Solving: Proactive in resolving issues and implementing improvements in a regulated, high-stakes environment.
Additional Information
This role requires enhanced security clearance and may involve shift work or on-call duties for urgent complaints. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds. Reasonable adjustments will be made for candidates with disabilities.
