Our Values
It’s great to know that you are interested in working with us at Coventry City Council. As a prospective employee, it is important that everyone who works for us is committed to our One Coventry values and shares our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation.
About the team we are recruiting to
Coventry City Council’s Benefits Service is comprised of diverse, multi-talented teams who all have the same aim, to help the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Our work is varied and covers the assessment and administration of schemes that provide financial help and support for those in need.
Specifically, the teams are responsible for the delivery of:
- Housing Benefit and Discretionary Housing Payments which we administer on behalf of the Department for Works and Pensions. We also recover any overpaid housing benefit
- Council Tax Support which is a local scheme that helps residents with their Council Tax charges
- Free School Meals, by working closely with schools we aim to ensure every child who is entitled has a free school meal
- Community Support Grant Scheme which includes assistance in extreme emergency situations and can provide citizens help to resettle back into the community by providing essential furniture items.
We embrace the ONE COVENTRY approach, working closely with our external partners and other Council teams, such as the Housing and Homeless teams and Children’s teams, ensuring we have a holistic approach to supporting our residents.
What is the job role?
As the Benefits Subsidy and Policy Lead, a large part of your role will be the day-to-day management of the Housing Benefit Subsidy claim. As well as providing hands on technical expertise you will provide direction and advice to an established team of officers to ensure that service goals and objectives are met within internal and external timescales, and that income from the Housing Benefit subsidy claim is maximised.
Revenues and Benefits Service is a fast-moving service in a demanding and ever-changing environment. You will be responsible for identifying and leading on new policy and project initiatives, working as part of a wider management team and across service areas to achieve continuous service improvement.
The main duties of this role include:
- Ensuring the timely and accurate completion of the Housing Benefit subsidy certification.
- Identifying and monitoring areas of risk and potential subsidy loss within the Housing Benefit caseload and making recommendations for improvement
- Providing hands on technical expertise in respect of more complex cases.
- Identifying areas for service development, and co-ordinate and lead the implementation of new initiatives and solutions
We are looking for someone who
- Has expert knowledge and experience of Housing Benefit legislation, of Housing Benefit Subsidy rules practices and financial impact to the Council, and a broad knowledge of other related legislation
- Is well organised, resilient, and passionate in their approach.
- Has the ability to work effectively with minimum supervision and to take responsibility for their own workload and decisions, working on their own initiative and consistently meeting deadlines.
- Has excellent verbal and written communication skills along with the ability to effectively use a wide range of IT systems and applications. This should also include knowledge and experience of the IT systems used for Benefits Administration at Coventry City Council
Further details may be found at
https://careers.coventry.gov.uk/jobs/job/Benefits-Subsidy-and-Policy-Lead/5646
When applying for the job candidates will be required to write a personal statement detailing how they meet the person specification. In particular they should detail their knowledge and experience of the Housing Benefit Subsidy Certification process
The closing date is Tuesday 30 August 2022 with interviews planned for the following week (6th and 7th September)
