Facing peak complaint volumes and rising cost to serve, a large UK utility partnered with Huntswood to overhaul its complaints operating model. Through improved visibility, targeted upskilling and stronger governance, Huntswood helped the customer cut escalated complaints by over 40%, delivering more than £1 million in annual savings.
The Challenge:
At its peak in December 2023, complaint volumes had escalated to the point where ~300+ FTE were required to keep pace with demand, resulting in unsustainable cost base for the client.
A lack of visibility within Salesforce made it difficult to track cases through to resolution, contributing to a cycle of repeat complaints. Escalation processes were inefficient and inconsistent across teams, slowing resolution times and driving up the overall cost to serve.
Our Solution:
Huntswood took a structured, data-led approach to rebuilding the complaints operating model, combining process redesign, targeted capability building and stronger governance:
- Semi-automated WIP tracker: introduced to tracker with a real-time visibility of complaint status and volumes, enabling proactive management and reducing the FTE required to run the operation.
- Escalation matrix and weekly chase process: implemented to streamline cross-department resolution and remove bottlenecks that had previously delayed cases.
- Deep dives and targeted upskilling: conducted across Home Move, Payments and Billing complaint types, identifying root causes and equipping advisors to resolve issues right first time, cutting repeat complaints by 30%.
- Mandatory outbound call strategy: introduced to reduce artificial inflation of the “Customers Waiting” queue and ensure genuine progress on open cases.
- Structural simplification: redundant teams were disbanded and goodwill payment limits realigned, removing duplication and inconsistency across the operation.
- Scrum-based collaboration and an umbrella view model: adopted to improve visibility of Complaint Resolution (CR), Call-Back Complaints (CBC) and escalations across all workstreams.
- Upskilling within Collections: delivered to address a key driver of Ombudsman (OMB) complaints, reducing escalations at source.
The Results:
- Ramp-down of the transformation programme was completed in November 2025, with outstanding feedback received from the client.
- A continuous improvement loop is now embedded across frontline, resolver and UK teams, sustaining performance beyond the life of the programme.
- A fundamental shift in advisor mindset from outputs to inputs, driving a 50%+ increase in productive actions.
- A dedicated incentive structure for Subject Access (SA) resolvers, aligning reward with the right behaviours.
- Transparent reporting and accountability embedded at every level of the operation.
- Joint venture improvements delivered in partnership with the client, including changes to credit policy, Direct Debit calculation methodology and enhanced vulnerability support.