Council Tax Officer - London (Greater), United Kingdom - Enfield Council

Description

JOB ROLE PROFILE AND
PERSON SPECIFICATION

Generic
Job Category:

Post Title and Number:
Assessment officer


Present Grade:
Scale 6


Dept:
Finance, Resources and Customer Services


Service/Section/Team:
Financial Assessment/Income and Debt

Reports to (title): Team Leader/Team Manager


Purpose of the Role:

Collection/assessment officers provide high level quality, professional and comprehensive collection/assessment services across the Assessment Hub, are adaptable and are able to follow standard operating procedures with limited supervision.

Deliver an effective, efficient and customer focused service in line with Corporate Policies and within national and local legislative requirements.

Collection/financial assessment officers should actively support continuous improvement and the implementation of automation and efficient ways of working.

This position will also require the holder to keep up to date with developments and practices in the service.


Dimensions including Structure Chart:

Some supervisory responsibility would be expected to assist with the induction of staff, on the job training of colleagues and students, and the allocation and checking of work.

Expectation that a general knowledge of the area would be quickly developed by collection/assessment officers.


Key Accountabilities:

• Responsible for delivering, to a high standard, the collection/assessment support service menus, working across the Assessment Hub as a pooled resource to ensure effective operation of the services. Including but not limited to the assessment and determination of income related benefits and other reductions, complex collection service matters, data entry, customer contact, and understanding service specific collection/assessment tasks.
• Understand and be responsive to the needs of customers, offering technical assessment and collection advice and guidance both written and verbal, and present a positive and professional image to the customer at all times, ensuring a high standard of customer service.
• Proactively develop skills, understanding and abilities in delivering support services in order to carry out standardised processes in a consistent and efficient manner
• Deal professionally and effectively with all contacts from a wide range of people, using tact and discretion, assessing needs and re-directing enquiries, where appropriate.
• Deal with customer enquiries at all levels and follow through to resolution, ensuring all relevant systems are updated and the adequate audit trails are in place.
• Maintain clear and up to date records of customer contact and work undertaken across the shared resource and proactively establish areas of specialism within the Assessment Hub.
• Work closely with Assessment Hub managers to ensure an integrated strategic approach to operation of the service.
• Provide an accessible customer focused service and effectively engage with vulnerable/challenging customers and situations.
• Maintain a wide knowledge of policies, procedures and statutory legislation and to regularly update that knowledge in order to give correct service information and advice.
• Work as a team to encourage customers to use the council website as a knowledge base and customer portal for financial assessment, income, debt and income maximisation enquiries.
• Attend service team meetings and, with colleagues, contribute ideas and make recommendations for improvements/changes in existing procedures, policies and processes.
• Organise and prioritise own workload as appropriate, renegotiating targets/deadlines as conflicting demands necessitate.
• Understand when and how to escalate issues to ensure requests are completed within a timely manner.
• Maintain up to date knowledge to ensure effective utilisation of IT systems used
• Inform opportunities to eliminate waste, stop non-value adding activities and maximise the potential of simplified and shared ways of working and automation
• Carry out all accountabilities in compliance with the Council's Policies and Procedures
• To work as part of a team and to assist in the delivery and completion of assessment/collection work, supporting different work projects, ensuring the successful completion of the project.
• Maintain accurate and effective communication with your line manager ensuring that they are regularly appraised of changes and developments affecting the allocated work.
• To undertake any other reasonable duties commensurate with the grading of the post
• At all times to carry out responsibilities with due regard to the Council's Code of Conduct and related policies i.e. Equalities & Diversity, Data Protection, Confidentiality, Health & Safety.

The range of outcomes we expect you to do are set out above, however this is not intended as a complete description of your job.

We reserve the right to ask you to undertake any tasks that are consistent with the grade to ensure effective service delivery.

This may include working in any other service areas and / or varying hours of work, as may be reasonably required of you.

Key Relationships (Internal and External):

• By phone and/or email, customers and members of the public
• Other teams across the Council and external agencies as and when required to ensure effective enforcement and resolution of enquiries and issues
• Build and maintain effective relationships across the organisation to support a proactive, flexible, customer focused service
• Maintain awareness and knowledge of IT developments and leading practice

Equality and Diversity:

The Council has a strong commitment to achieving equality in its service to the community and the employment of people and expects all employees to understand, comply with and promote its policies in their own work.

Health and Safety:

The post holder shall ensure that the duties of the post are undertaken with due regard to the Council's Health and Safety Policy and to their personal responsibilities under the provisions of the Health and Safety at work Act 1974 and all other relevant subordinate legislation.

For a more detailed definition of these responsibilities, refer to the current versions of the Corporate Health & Safety Policy, Group Safety Policy and employee information leaflet entitled "Health & Safety Policy; Guidance on Staff Health & Safety Responsibilities".

Corporate Health and Safety Responsibilities

All employees have personal responsibilities to take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and others


This means:

• Understanding the hazards in the work they undertake;
• Following safety rules and procedures;
• Using work equipment, personal protective equipment, substances, and safety devices correctly; and
• Working in accordance with the training provided and only undertaking tasks where appropriate training has been received.

Employees shall co-operate with the Council by allowing it to comply with its duties towards them


This requires employees to:

• Take part in safety training and risk assessments and suggest ways of reducing risks; and
• Take part in emergency evacuation exercises.

Employees shall report all accidents, 'near miss' incidents and work related ill health conditions to their manager/supervisor/team leader.

Employees shall read the Corporate Health & Safety - Organisation Part B Policy to ascertain and understand their responsibilities as an employee, line manager, Assistant Director or Director of the Council.

Information Security:

In order to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of Council information, including information provided by customers, partner organisations, and other third parties, where applicable, employees will comply with the Council's Information Security Policy.

Statement of Commitment to Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults through safer employment practice:

Enfield Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.

Safe recruitment of staff is central to this commitment, and the Council will ensure that its recruitment policies and practices are robust, and that selection procedures prevent unsuitable people from gaining access to children, young people and vulnerable adults.

All staff employed to work with or on behalf of children and young people in the Council must be competent.

All staff working with Children & Vulnerable Adults should be aware of, and share the commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults when applying for posts at Enfield Council.

Generic Job Role Last Update:
September 2015

Job Category:

Assessment Hub:
Income and Debt/Financial Assessment


PERSON SPECIFICATION
Job Title:


Assessment officer Grade:
Sc6

Department:

Finance Team:
Assessment

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES (You are not restricted to 2 criteria for each category)

HOW TESTED
Application - A
Test - T
Interview - I
Job Specifics - Skills, Experience
(In this section you should list between 4 and a maximum of 8 essential recruitment and selection criteria and 2 desirable criteria). The information you provide in this section will be used in the recruitment application process to assess the suitability of job applicants.


Essential:

• Experience/successful track record of providing collection/financial assessment services.
• Adaptable and keen to be part of a pooled resource across the assessment hub
• Experience of processing income related and other claims, changes in circumstance and other enquiries within a collection/assessment related environment delivering high quality services
• Good written and oral communications skills and the ability to communicate complex matters effectively to customers.
• Good IT/Technical skills, knowledge
• Evidence of continuous professional development of skills and knowledge

Desirable:
Experience of collection/assessment related roles
Business administration/professional collection/assessment qualification


Competencies:

• Influence

a. Build Relationships
b. Communicating Information

• Solving Problems

a. Investigating Issues
b. Creating Innovation

• Adaptability

a. Resilience
b. Giving Support

• Deliver Results

a. Driving Success
b. Planning and Managing Resources

Knowledge

• A good understanding of collection, income/financial related assessments and benefit services delivered across the Council
• A good knowledge of best practice approaches in collection/financial assessments of income related and other reductions within a local authority environment
• A good understanding of welfare benefits and best practice approaches to aligning decision making with value for money principles

Qualification(s)

• Business administration/Local Government professional qualification in collection/benefit/welfare reform services or equivalent

We have an exciting opportunity for a Council Tax Officer to join our Council Tax team within the Income & Debt department at Enfield Council.

The successful candidate will work as part of a fast-paced team and be responsible for the administration of Council Tax accounts in line with current legislation, ensuring all necessary action is taken to collect revenue efficiently and effectively.

They will process moves in, out, and within the authority, deal with applications for reliefs and exemptions and make payment arrangements with customers.

The role requires the skills to effectively respond to enquiries received by letter, telephone and electronically, as well as undertaking proactive work to improve collection and recover debt.

You will be an enthusiastic, committed team player, understanding best practice and customer contact procedures with experience in debt collection.

You will be able to demonstrate a good standard of numeracy and literacy, be able to work using your own initiative, prioritise conflicting deadlines, managing your time efficiently with good communication skills.

We are looking for someone with recent relevant Council Tax experience as an essential requirement. A knowledge of Civica Open Revenues systems would be preferable.

The passion to provide an excellent level of service is key as well as great communication skills and the ability to work as a team.

This is a full time role with core hours between 8:30am to 4:30pm. Successful candidates will be required to work remotely, subject to change. Placement will initially be for a period of three months, to be reviewed

Please only submit candidates with relevant experience