More about the roles:
Central Bedfordshire Council is a large unitary authority that strives to put its customers first. We are developing a 24/7 online offering to give the people in our community even greater accessibility and are constantly looking at other ways to improve. Our Revenues and Benefits Service is critical to our future success as it facilitates the billing and collection of Council Tax and Business Rates as well as the assessment of benefit claims, ensuring we achieve positive outcomes in a sensitive way. Help us change for the better.
Your main duties will be to deal with all aspects of revenue recovery in relation to council tax, business rates and overpaid housing benefit. The majority of your work will involve dealing with incoming phone calls, but you will also respond by email and letter and will therefore need to have excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
The next year will be particularly challenging for us in trying to help customers who are affected by the pandemic and who need to get back on track with their finances and council tax and business rate payments, so we are now looking for candidates who can demonstrate excellent customer care, communication and listening skills, as well as good negotiation skills to enable them to balance the customer’s needs, with the requirement to pay the council tax which funds essential council services to our Central Bedfordshire residents.
You will be required to identify and offer solutions to customers and will be required to liaise with outside agencies who work in partnership with the Council, such as enforcement agents, as well as debt advice agencies. to achieve good outcomes. You will maintain and update the confidential database of individual’s records by checking debt records and escalating and actioning cases, as necessary.
We work in a fast-paced environment, so you must also be able to demonstrate that you can work on your own initiative, as once your training is completed you will be expected to make independent decisions within guidelines, and with minimal supervision, and be able to prioritise your own workload, whilst also being a good team player, and being adaptable to move with the workload requirements.
You may also be required to attend the Magistrates Court to assist and support the Revenues Team Leader and Managers to interview and advise customers who attend court.
You will have a good standard of English and Maths, (minimum of A to C grade GCSE’s or equivalent) as well as extensive experience of using Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams in order to perform your duties.
You will have previous experience gained from working in a revenues environment, preferably within a Local Authority, although further training will be provided for the successful candidates.
Join us, and take advantage of a generous rewards package, flexible working, and the chance to learn and progress. Find your greatness by helping us to deliver better services to the local community.
Central Bedfordshire Council has its own vision and values that are integral to everything we do. Our area vision is to make Central Bedfordshire ‘A great place to live and work’.
Our Aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We are happy to discuss location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.
You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies detailed within this Recruitment Pack
For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Evelina Rapkeviciute at evelina.rapkeviciute@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or 0300 300 5228.
Interview Date: week commencing 2nd of May 2022
For queries related to the recruitment of this vacancy, please contact: recruitment@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk
Safeguarding:
Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.
Central Bedfordshire Council is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome enquiries from everyone and value diversity in the workplace.
To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council’s policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.
If you require assistance to apply for our roles, help with writing your CV, interview techniques or careers advice please contact our team of careers advisors at ncs@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk Our service is confidential, impartial and free for all.
