Income Recovery Officer
| Posting date: | 19 June 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £36,124 to £40,476 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 02 July 2025 |
| Location: | Sandwell Council House, Freeth St, Oldbury, B69 3DE |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | Sandwell Council |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | SAND000008949 |
Summary
This is an exciting opportunity to join the Income Management Team within the Place Directorate at Sandwell MBC as we continue to invest in the service to ensure it meets our customer’s expectations.
We are committed to providing an excellent customer journey with a clear emphasis on prevention, early help, and support. You will have responsibility for undertaking all aspects of income and debt recovery for your allocated area of work, this will include providing initial advice on housing benefit/universal credit housing costs and implementing practical measures to mitigate the impact of Welfare Reform, ensuring that all avenues are utilised to secure an outstanding debt, for example applying for third party deductions, managed payments and discretionary housing payments.
The Income Management Team is responsible for managing, monitoring, and recovering arrears of rent and other housing related charges from current and former tenants. A key objective is to combine the effective recovery of arrears with tenancy sustainment through the provision of quality advice, assistance and support to those in need. You will be a key player in ensuring that prompt and effective action is taken to control and recover rent arrears and in maximising income collection.
You will be expected to have:-
Literacy and Numeracy level 2 or equivalent (or willing to obtain numeracy within 12 months)
A minimum of 2 years’ experience of working in a rent arrears recovery or similar income collection environment
Proven experience of managing an arrears/debt caseload/patch
Comprehensive knowledge of arrears management procedures and processes, including the legal framework for the recovery of housing related debt and good practice.
Ability to effectively communicate at all levels through an approachable manner, including with customers, stakeholders, and team members
Ability to ‘collect with care’ seeking first to understand a customer’s circumstances fully
Ability to work on own initiative with effective organisational and time management skills with the ability to work to strict deadlines
Ability to determine and review priorities and achieve performance targets
Ability to present accurately and concisely written and oral reports and statistical information
Ability to carry out financial assessments to determine a customer’s financial circumstances, tenancy affordability and support needs
Detailed knowledge of Universal Credit, Universal Credit vulnerability tiers, managed payments, and the third-party deduction scheme.
If you have the drive to deliver a quality, customer focused service we would like to hear from you.
Previous applicants need not apply.
For an informal discussion, please contact any of the following officers via email:- raj_sandhu – raj_sandhu@sandwell.gov.uk, Liam Martin – liam_martin@sandwell.gov.uk or Sarah Scott – sarah1_scott@sandwell.gov.uk
Hours
37 hours per week, hybrid working, minimum of 2 days in the office
We reserve the right to close vacancies prior to their advertised date if we receive a large number of applications. Therefore, you are strongly advised to complete and return your application as soon as possible. When completing your application please refer to the supporting documents attached.
We are committed to providing an excellent customer journey with a clear emphasis on prevention, early help, and support. You will have responsibility for undertaking all aspects of income and debt recovery for your allocated area of work, this will include providing initial advice on housing benefit/universal credit housing costs and implementing practical measures to mitigate the impact of Welfare Reform, ensuring that all avenues are utilised to secure an outstanding debt, for example applying for third party deductions, managed payments and discretionary housing payments.
The Income Management Team is responsible for managing, monitoring, and recovering arrears of rent and other housing related charges from current and former tenants. A key objective is to combine the effective recovery of arrears with tenancy sustainment through the provision of quality advice, assistance and support to those in need. You will be a key player in ensuring that prompt and effective action is taken to control and recover rent arrears and in maximising income collection.
You will be expected to have:-
Literacy and Numeracy level 2 or equivalent (or willing to obtain numeracy within 12 months)
A minimum of 2 years’ experience of working in a rent arrears recovery or similar income collection environment
Proven experience of managing an arrears/debt caseload/patch
Comprehensive knowledge of arrears management procedures and processes, including the legal framework for the recovery of housing related debt and good practice.
Ability to effectively communicate at all levels through an approachable manner, including with customers, stakeholders, and team members
Ability to ‘collect with care’ seeking first to understand a customer’s circumstances fully
Ability to work on own initiative with effective organisational and time management skills with the ability to work to strict deadlines
Ability to determine and review priorities and achieve performance targets
Ability to present accurately and concisely written and oral reports and statistical information
Ability to carry out financial assessments to determine a customer’s financial circumstances, tenancy affordability and support needs
Detailed knowledge of Universal Credit, Universal Credit vulnerability tiers, managed payments, and the third-party deduction scheme.
If you have the drive to deliver a quality, customer focused service we would like to hear from you.
Previous applicants need not apply.
For an informal discussion, please contact any of the following officers via email:- raj_sandhu – raj_sandhu@sandwell.gov.uk, Liam Martin – liam_martin@sandwell.gov.uk or Sarah Scott – sarah1_scott@sandwell.gov.uk
Hours
37 hours per week, hybrid working, minimum of 2 days in the office
We reserve the right to close vacancies prior to their advertised date if we receive a large number of applications. Therefore, you are strongly advised to complete and return your application as soon as possible. When completing your application please refer to the supporting documents attached.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.