JOB DESCRIPTION
REFERENCE OFT675
NUMBER
JOB TITLE EO Enquiries & Reporting GRADE EO
Centre
AREA Corporate Services GROUP Enquiries & Reporting
Centre (ERC)
LOCATION Fleetbank House DATE November 2008
RESPONSIBLE TO Deputy Head of First Tier, ERC
RESPONSIBLE FOR— PEOPLE Some management opportunities - TBC
RESPONSIBLE FOR – BUDGET None
JOB PURPOSE
ERC is the public facing team of the OFT. Its role is to provide excellent customer service to
those contacting the OFT. We assess, prioritise and respond to the vast majority of enquiries
and complaints coming into the OFT. Dealing with telephone calls and correspondence at a
central point frees up resources elsewhere in the OFT and enables the organisation to
concentrate on enforcement and other priority work.
ERC is currently split into a number of teams specialising in correspondence, telephone, and
competition enquiries. As such, the job holder will be required to work flexibly across the
teams as required.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES/KEY DUTIES
An executive officer within ERC will:
• Manage and develop staff (where the post has direct team leader responsibilities). This
includes responsibility for quality control and giving guidance to team members.
• Lead the sift of incoming correspondence to the OFT and allocate them to the most
appropriate team for response
• Log the details of both telephone calls and written enquiries using the OFT’s case
management system (CMS)
• Analyse enquiries and complaints and respond to them by tailoring a range of standard
responses/lines or creating bespoke responses
• Refer complaints that may need further investigation to, or, enforcement sections with
appropriate recommendations
• Provide advice on, or signpost our enforcement partners, to relevant OFT guidance
both in writing and over the telephone.
• Attach written correspondence to the CMS and file hard copies.
• Provide the OFT with market intelligence by collation, co-ordination and analysis of
complaints and performance statistics for the rest of OFT and senior officers within
ERC.
PERSON SPECIFICATION - Qualifications, Experience, Knowledge & Skills
Qualifications:
• A-C grade GCSE (or equivalent) in English and Maths (essential)
Experience: (All essential)
• Experience of analysing, assessing and handling correspondence and enquiries
• Experience of accurately researching and gathering of information
• Experience of identifying and producing appropriately tailored responses to the
concerns of the correspondent, MPs and consumers who telephone.
• Experience of working with databases
Knowledge:
• Good working knowledge of Word and Excel (Essential)
• Good understanding of the functions and current activities of the OFT (Desirable)
• Good knowledge of UK consumer regulation enforcement (Desirable)
• Good knowledge of UK competition law (Desirable)
Skills: (All essential)
• The ability to manage, delegating work effectively and providing clear guidance,
treating staff as individuals, recognising their strengths and weaknesses
• Ability to analyse and research information effectively, identifying all relevant aspects
and looking beyond the obvious
• Communicates orally, articulately and concisely with internal and external contacts and
adapts style to the audience and situation
• Communicate effectively in writing with internal and external contacts and adapts
style to the audience and situation
• The ability to deliver high quality results within tight deadlines, consulting
appropriately and making decisions in a timely manner.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, interacting in a positive way to make a
contribution to the team. (essential)
• Ability to plan and organise self and work in order to achieve objectives and targets
(essential)
OTHER JOB REQUIREMENTS (e.g. any special terms and conditions of the job)
Vacancies across ERC will include roles in both the telephone and correspondence teams,
some of which require rostering. There will also be a restricted version of the flexible hours
working scheme available in some of the roles.
Due to the front line nature of the roles, home working terms are unfortunately not possible
initially but some limited home working arrangements may be available in the future as ERC
develops.