Role: Investigating Officer
Company: Northern Ireland Ombudsman
Track Record:
What does your job entail?
I joined the office of the Northern Ireland Ombudsman as an investigating officer in January 2009. The Ombudsman investigates complaints made by people who believe that public bodies in Northern Ireland have not acted properly or fairly towards them.
Our investigations can include the actions of government departments, their agencies, local councils and health trusts as well as independent health service providers.
I work in the ASSIST team — Advice, Support, Service and Initial Screening Team — set up in 2013 to help improve our service for the public. We are the ‘triage’ room of the office — all cases are dealt with as they come in and we decide if they are suitable to be accepted for investigation. If so, we then commence the investigation and pass it to a team for completion.
If accepted, the complaint is passed to an investigating officer for further enquiries and that officer will gather evidence, perspectives, and explanations from all parties to the complaint. The Ombudsman then comes to a decision as to whether maladministration has been found, and reports on this.
I am also responsible for the management of three members of administrative staff, the office’s case handling system and for the production of performance management statistics.
Is it 9-5?
I work part-time as I have a young family — my daughter is seven and my son is two — so currently I’m in the office Monday through to Wednesday.
Working hours are flexible in the Ombudsman’s Office, which I use to try and beat the worst of the traffic on the M1. I usually leave the house at 7am and arrive in work at around 7.40am. I leave the office at around 4pm and arrive home at 4.40pm.
How did you get into this line of work?
I joined the Civil Service after graduating in September 2002, taking a post with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research agency as an assistant statistician. I applied for this post because I had always enjoyed and performed well at the research and information management modules of my university courses.
In 2004, I transferred to the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure as I felt that my undergraduate degree in sports studies could best be utilised there. I was part of the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit which provided research and statistical support to the department’s main business areas.
It was while working here that an interchange opportunity became available in the Ombudsman’s Office. The Interchange Programme is a collaborative initiative designed to promote and encourage an increase in the exchange of personnel and good practice between the public, voluntary and private sectors in Northern Ireland.
I was interested in the interchange opportunity at the Ombudsman’s Office as it was for the post of investigating officer. I felt that I could bring my own research skills and knowledge of the Northern Ireland Civil Service to the Ombudsman’s Office, and that I would be able to learn valuable new investigative skills and obtain a deeper understanding of complaints handling and other public bodies.
Tell us about your qualifications/training?
I grew up in Portadown, where I still live, and attended Bocombra Primary School, Killicomaine Junior High School, and Portadown College. At university I studied a BSc in sport exercise and leisure studies receiving 1st Class Honours, followed by Masters degrees in management and professional development, and social research methods.
What qualities are required for your job — personal and professional?
In this role you need excellent analytical skills such as a sound and balanced judgment, an inquisitive mind, and in-depth analysis and interpretation of data.
Attention to detail is key, as is the ability to manage a large and varied workload, without loss of quality.
Strong interpersonal skills are also required, as well as dealing with the public, I’m required to liaise a variety of staff from Government and other public bodies, and legal professionals amongst other people
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Be happy in your job.
As a working mother, balancing my career and home life can be difficult therefore job satisfaction is essential.
For me it is important to feel that what I do on a day-to-day basis in work is making a difference to people’s lives. Working at the Ombudsman’s office does make a difference — it provides people with answers and explanations, and sometimes redress, to questions which have aggrieved them up until that point.
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.
I am passionate about sport, so I try to squeeze in a 5k or 10k run at some stage each day, and I am a qualified spin instructor.
Sport has always been important to me; in fact I wanted to be a PE teacher when I was younger. However, standing in the rain at Saturday morning hockey matches soon put me off this idea!
Who has inspired you most in your life?
My parents have inspired me most in my career. My dad was a senior fire officer and my mum was a children’s nurse.
Both of them worked incredibly hard throughout their careers, and both of them excelled at what they did.
At the same time, they provided me with a great upbringing and always supported me through whatever I did. In fact, they still do!