Council Tax Collection Officer (Academy)
Business Smart Solutions
Contract
On-site
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
Rate: £25.00 per hour (umbrella)
Term: Until Wed, 31 Dec 2025
Hours per week: 37
Location: Minimum 40% on site/office presence. This may vary to more onsite presence depending on the position.
MAIN PURPOSE
1. To collect Council Tax
2. To deal daily with queries received as a result of recovery action being taken on cases that have fallen into arrears
3. To monitor cases in arrears daily, and where appropriate, initiate escalation of recovery action in accordance with statutory regulations, legislation and case law
4. To promote and uphold the ‘Help me with my financial/housing problem’ system principles, including taking one view of debt, and consistently using income and expenditure detail to inform sustainable solutions
5. To protect and maximise the council’s income
6. To support customers to find sustainable ways to meet their debts to the council
7. To proactively assist the management team in improving services and raising collection
Requirements
Qualifications and Knowledge:
- IRRV Level 2 Diploma in Local Taxation, Benefits and Advice (QCF) or substantial proven equivalent experience
- Adequate current experience of working within a high pressure income recovery and customer focussed environment
- An understanding of local authority policy in relation to equality
Good current knowledge of Academy Revs & Bens, Capita Housing, Ash, Paris, Access, RKYV Dip and Workflow systems, and associated modules
- A detailed knowledge of the legal process and procedure in relation to the collection of Council Tax from first reminder up to and including committal
- A working knowledge of financial customer solutions available including payment arrangement, discretionary funding and write off with the ability to explore sustainable ways to maintain and maximise the councils income in a customer focussed way
- An understanding of financial regulation and rules in relation to customer payments e.g. direct debit guarantee
- A good understanding of security protocols in relation to the taking of customer payments and handling personal and financial information
Special Requirements and Skills
- The ability to apply a one view of debt principle within customer service delivery
- Good communication skills at all levels to deal with frequent enquiries on income collection and related issues with customers, collegues, members and 3rd party representatives
- The ability to proactively contact with customers to confidently discuss debt
- Flexibility to frequently changing demands in relation to customer service provision and daily collection tasks
- Independent decision making when negotiating arrangements with customers
- Excellent negotiation skills with customers who need to understand the severity of their debt situation
- Flexible and reliable team player with a
- positive and approachable attitude towards customers and colleagues
- Emotional resilience with the ability to remain calm in difficult/challenging situations with customers
- Integrity to handle sensitive and secure information
- Ability to work accurately under pressure
- Self motivated and enthusiastic with a positive ‘can do’ approach
- Good organisational skills with the ability to multi task
Benefits
Pre-Compliance Checks for Successful Applicants:
At BSS, we uphold the highest standards of screening and trust
for every role. Successful applicants will undergo a comprehensive
pre-compliance process in line with the Baseline Personnel Security
Standard (BPSS). This includes:
-
Identity Verification: Confirming the authenticity of
your identity documents.
-
Employment History Checks: Reviewing your occupation
history for the past 3-5 years (depending on client
requirement).
-
Right to Work Verification: Ensuring you have the
legal right to work in the UK.
-
Unspent Conviction Check: Conducting a Basic DBS
Check to reveal any unspent convictions.
These checks are crucial in ensuring a secure and trustworthy
work collaboration, aligning with best practices used in government
and public sectors. While primarily standard in these sectors, our
adoption of pre-compliance checks across all roles reflects our
commitment to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and trust
in our recruitment process.
-
What we offer
We believe employee benefits should go beyond just a free drink
or fruit bowl. What’s more, we believe you should get to choose
perks that suit your lifestyle. That’s why we’ve partnered up with
the global benefits and rewards provider Perkbox, to offer
something for all of our people.
Here’s what you can look forward to:
Perks Hub
* Hundreds of global and local perks, available online 24/7
* Free monthly lifestyle perks; such as free coffees,
breakfasts, cinema tickets, etc
* Shopping discounts from the biggest brands, all year round
* Save money on everything from the supermarket shop to
summer holidays
Wellness Hub
* Easy to follow videos for everything from yoga exercises,
to strength training and HIIT workouts
* Mindfulness, meditation and sleep resources, available on
all your devices
* Guides to help with everything from anxiety to stopping smoking
* Confidential mental health helpline, 24/7 access to a qualified counsellor
Celebration hub
* Working with us means you're always part of Team BSS -
celebrate and recognise fellow contractors, whether they're across
the desk or across the world
* Company polls where everybody can vote for the winners
Culture Hub
* A single place to find company updates, photos, benefits
information and lots more!
* Stay in the loop with what’s happening by accessing
Culture hub anywhere, at any time
Equal Opportunities
Business Smart Solutions are a Recruitment Agency - We hire
talented and passionate people from a variety of backgrounds because
we want our global worker base to represent the wide diversity of our
clients. If you’re excited about a role but your past experience
doesn’t align perfectly with every bullet point listed in the job
description, we still encourage you to apply. If you're passionate
about working for a role in local government and share our company
values, we encourage you to apply.
BSS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not
discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race,
color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy,
childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry,
physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status,
gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable
legally protected characteristic. BSS considers qualified applicants
with criminal histories, consistent with applicable UK law. If you
need assistance or an accommodation made due to a disability, please
let your recruiter know.
Armed Forces Covenant
We endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles
of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- No member of the Armed Forces Community should
face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial
services compared to any other citizen
- In some circumstances special treatment may be
appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.