Recovery Officer

Passionate about providing a high-quality collection service by helping and supporting our residents and businesses?

 

Role Snapshot…

Our Councils bill and collect £250m in Council Tax each year. You will be part of a team that engages with our customers to find practical solutions to ensure that local taxes are paid in a timely manner. Offering support and guidance to those individuals that are unable to pay is key to the success this role.

 

What you could be part of…

As part of our Recovery Team, you will work alongside colleagues with a focus to collect unpaid Council Tax and Business Rates from our residents and businesses. This will involve taking and making phone calls from customers to agree offers of payment. For those needing additional support you will work closely with our Help Hub and where appropriate internal debt advisors and other debt advisory organisations. You will also liaise with external agencies, such as the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) and Enforcement Agencies. Predominantly based in the office (or working from home) but you will also have the opportunity to attend the Magistrates Court to obtain liability orders.

Working at the Council enables you to be part of an organisation which is proud to deliver high-quality, customer focussed services. Our success comes from us being commercially astute and business-like. Continuous improvement is also vital, and we challenge ourselves to develop new and innovative ways to improve the services that make a real difference to people’s lives.

 

What you’ll be doing…

• Work on non-routine recovery reports and cases deciding on the best form of recovery action including committal or bankruptcy in consultation with managers for the recovery of Council Tax and Business Rates (NDR).
• Work with the Early Help team to deal effectively with customers who are experiencing financial difficulties by referring and supporting vulnerable persons to the Help Hub as appropriate.
• Assist in the maintenance of the Enforcement Agent contract work including the transmission and monitoring of work to the Enforcement Agent, and reconciliation of cases sent.
• Deal with cases where the council is taking bankruptcy or insolvency action and where necessary liaise with the defaulter concerned and the council's legal advisors.
• Strive for continuous improvement of processes and procedures operating in an innovative and cost-effective manner identifying and actioning efficiencies where appropriate

 

You must have…

• 5 GCSEs at Grade C (or equivalent qualification) including Maths and English
• Ability to keep up to date with legislation and policies in relation to Council Tax and NDR administration and recovery
• Demonstrable experience of customer service in the Council Tax and NDR environment and experience of resolving complex customer queries with successful complaint handling and resolution
• Demonstrable experience of working within a recovery role and detailed understanding of the appropriate legislation
• Good planning, organisational and time management skills, including prioritisation and self-monitoring of workload and work under own initiative
• Demonstrable influencing skills with some negotiation

 

What’s in it for you…

Why Work For Us?

Do you want to know more about why our staff work for us? Our website has a fantastic why work for us section where our staff tell us what makes working for the Councils so special.

 

What Flexible and Agile Working Arrangements do we Offer?

The Councils understand the importance of operating a work life balance in the modern world. The Councils operate a flexible working policy and agile working options available for employees where operationally possible.

 

What Roles Do the Councils Offer?

The Councils operate a vast and diverse number of services for our residents, so with this comes a vast and diverse amount of job roles within the Councils. Our website has a great graphic showing all our job families and roles within the Councils. From here you can plan your career with the Councils or get some ideas on other roles that you may be interested in.

 

What Benefits do our Employees Receive?

View all our amazing staff benefits on offer for our employees. Our website has a brilliant benefits section allowing you to see the range of discounts, exclusive offers and total rewards our employees receive. Make sure you stop by to find out more information.

 

What Employer Accreditations do we Hold?

The Councils have a range of employer accreditations that we have worked very hard to achieve. Our website has a full descriptive list of all our current accreditations and what this means for our employees.

 

What Wellbeing Support do our Staff Have Access to?

The Councils want to ensure all our employees have a safe comfortable place to work, ensuring that employees feel empowered to actively manage their own wellbeing both at work and at home. The Councils have a large wellbeing section available on the website outlining our commitment to the wellbeing of the employees of the Council.

 

Where are we advertising?

Advertising Internally and Externally

If external, please apply via our website. If internal, please apply via submitting your expression of interest to the relevant recruiting manager; a template for an expression of interest can be found on Connect.

Key Information:

For advice on how to apply, please visit our website https://www.norfolkjobsdirect.org/southnorfolk/southnorfolk/GenText.aspx?page=Page34

If you any questions about the role, then please don’t hesitate to contact the recruiting manager or the HR Team, who will be happy to answer any questions on the role or the Councils.

 

Recruiting Manager: Kristian Cubitt

Email: kristian.cubitt@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

Phone Number: 01603 430109

 

HR Team:

Email: hrteam@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

Phone Number: 01508 533995

 

Closing date: 24^th September 2023

The Councils reserve the right to close any and all vacancies at any time if there is judged to be a sufficient number of applications received.

Interview date: w/c 2^nd October 2023

Other Information

Please note that this post is subject to a satisfactory criminal record check. Please note we will not accept any DBS checks from a previous employer.

 

Next steps…

We will contact you via email, after the recruiting manager has shortlisted for the role to advise you of the shortlisting decision. Please note, we do not provide feedback at the application stage.

For guidance on future applications please see our website: https://www.norfolkjobsdirect.org/southnorfolk/southnorfolk/GenText.aspx?page=Page34

For information on future vacancies please sign up to our job alerts by clicking ‘get email alerts’ on our jobs page: https://www.norfolkjobsdirect.org/southnorfolk/SearchResults.aspx

If you want to learn more about the Councils, then please visit our joint website - South Norfolk and Broadland District Councils Website.

For lots of great information about employee life at the Councils please visit the above linked pages or visit our Jobs and Training Courses website page.

For information on how we use your data and the Councils Data Protection Policy please have a look at the Councils website

Please note we only accept applications submitted through our job’s portal, via Norfolk Jobs Direct: https://www.norfolkjobsdirect.org/southnorfolk/index.aspx

 

We are not accountable for any applications or details published through other job sites.