Revenues & Benefits Officer - Council Tax & Housing Benefits
| Posting date: | 16 May 2024 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £19.50 per hour |
| Additional salary information: | per hour PAYE |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 14 June 2024 |
| Location: | EALING, LONDON, W5 2HL |
| Company: | Triumph Consultants Ltd |
| Job type: | Temporary |
| Job reference: | Ealing 7704-1 |
Summary
What's involved with this role:
Temporary Revenues & Benefits Officer - Council Tax & Housing Benefits
Reference no: Ealing 7704-1
Pay Rate: £19.50 per hour PAYE
35 Monday – Friday, normal working hours
This opening assignment is for 3 months
City: EALING, LONDON
Basic DBS disclosure required
Possibly 3 days in the office and 2 days from home. This is subject to change
Provide a comprehensive and in-depth telephone service for council tax and housing benefit/council tax support enquiries. Ensure that all contacts receive a good customer experience, in a professional, timely and courteous manner always.
Explain both housing benefit/ council tax support entitlement to the customer to enable them to agree to the appropriate council tax payment arrangement. Accurately update/amend accounts/claims with regard to agreed procedures.
Key Responsibilities:
Acquire and retain a thorough understanding of Council Tax and Housing Benefit/Council Tax Support legislation to efficiently manage enquiries.
Be able to clearly explain and process accounts at all stages of the council tax recovery process from reminder to committal stage and be able to explain in detail a customer’s housing benefit/council tax support entitlement in a manner that the customer will be able to understand, via the telephone and/or face to face.
Keep up to date with new Housing benefit/council tax support and Council Tax policies and procedures, regulations and changes to welfare benefits, tax and pension credits.
Promote and support residents registering for Myaccount and to carry out the functions associated with the portal e.g., password resets, reactivation/deactivation, resolve failed registrations and linking of accounts.
Guide customers to access Council services using My Account and other Council Internet facilities.
Negotiate payment arrangements for Council Tax liabilities following confirmation of the balance outstanding having regard to any benefit entitlement.
Use negotiating skills and exercise discretion by making and agreeing payment arrangements with defaulting customers in accordance with laid down procedures and processes.
Liaise as necessary with officers within both the council tax and benefit service back offices, other internal departments and external agencies, housing associations, civil enforcement officers, landlords etc. while dealing with customer accounts/claims to ensure resolution of the enquiry.
Raise inspection requests or refer cases to the valuation/database team in respect of any properties that may have a property exemption issue or may be subject to a change in the valuation list.
Be able to take the necessary action i.e., either cancel or suspend a housing benefit/council tax support award or close a council tax account following the report of a relevant change in circumstances e.g., death/change in household members, increase in income etc.
NB: Please feel free to apply to us direct via jobs@tclrec.com by quoting the job reference and job title exactly.
To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would suggest that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, rather than as a PDF
If you are successful in securing this role, please note that for the entire duration of this contract, regardless of extension you will be working this role at the PAYE rate that has been advertised. For absolute clarity, we only work on a PAYE basis, rather than entertaining umbrella pay terms, we do not offer Ltd/umbrella or outside IR35 rates. If you wish to understand PAYE vs Umbrella more, please let us know and we can send you some additional information for clarity.
Due to the number of CVs being sent to us under current market conditions, we cannot, unfortunately, respond to all applications. If, therefore, you have not heard from us within 3 days please make a working assumption that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. We will, however, be very happy to receive future applications from you for other roles
Please quote the Job Title & Vacancy Reference No. in your application, or we will be unable to match your CV to the role being applied for.
Other “Essential Requirements” – Please check to ensure that your CV addresses the following items:
Unless the DBS requirement stated above is for a Basic Disclosure, your DBS must be either through us or be accompanied by a subscription to the DBS updating service.
Qualifications:
Level of education that indicates a good level of literacy and numeracy skills.
Knowledge:
Possesses a good working knowledge of council tax and/or housing benefit and council tax support legislation.
Knowledge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions including Microsoft office suite
A thorough understanding and knowledge of relevant legislation, office computer systems, software applications and security measures, in respect of council tax and housing benefits,
Experience:
Experience, understanding and knowledge of council tax and/or benefits service.
Minimum of one year’s proven experience of working in a customer services/service delivery area
Experience in the use of a variety of ICT systems, databases and applications including Microsoft Suite and a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system
Experience of drafting and composing responses to enquiries in writing, and email.
Skills & Abilities:
Demonstrates excellent customer care skills by seeking to understand the needs of customers and building rapport.
Demonstrable verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively in writing and by telephone
Good keyboard skills. (may be tested)
Ability to influence and negotiate with customers in respect of customer accounts/claims.
Ability to work as an integral member of a team.
Ability to work accurately whilst understanding the importance of meeting strict deadlines.
Ability to work to tight deadlines and agreed performance targets and organise/prioritise own workload
Proven ability to successfully resolve queries by telephone.
ALD
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Job Ref: Ealing 7704-1
Anticipated Length of Assignment: Unless otherwise stated (we do carry the occasional permanent vacancy) all of our roles are technically temporary, though opening assignments can be and often are, extended by clients on a longer term basis and can sometimes become permanent.
Please do try to resist contacting us with requests for progress updates.
We really do read every CV sent to us. All applications will be acknowledged by a human, not a robot, provided the job remains live and provided your CV meets the “Essential Requirements” listed.
Please note that we do our level best to take down ads as soon as roles have been filled. We are not in the business of harvesting CVs.
Important: We will interpret your application as being permission to submit your CV to this role (with the right to represent you) unless you advise us to the contrary.