Council Tax Customer Service Officer - Basildon Borough Council
Temporary, Full Time
Up to £25 per hour (PAYE/Umbrella)
Location: Basildon
Working Style: Anywhere worker
Closing Date: 3rd October 2023
Essex County Council (ECC) are delighted to be supporting Basildon Borough Council to recruit into their Council Tax Customer Service Officer position.
Working location: Basildon, Essex (Agile Working)
Contract type: Full Time 36.25 hour per week, Temporary for a 4-month period.
The purpose of this post is to assist the Customer Service team with handling Council Tax enquiries via telephone. The successful candidate will need to have experience in Council Tax and the CIVICA system.
The Opportunity
We are looking for 3 Council Tax Customer Service Officers required to work as part of a specialist team, receiving Council Tax enquiries by telephone to the Council’s Customer Service Centre, taking appropriate action to provide an efficient and effective service for the customer seeking to maximum resolution of enquiries at first point of contact. Experience and knowledge of Council Tax law and procedures are essential along with experience of using CIVICA Open Revenues.
The role will be for a four month period working 36.25 hour per week between 8.30am – 5.15pm Monday to Friday. The role is fully remote with the option to attend the office if preferred. The successful candidate will be required to attend the Basildon Centre to collect homeworking equipment on the first day.
Accountabilities
- Interpretation of Council Tax legislation, ensuring that processes and decisions apply in accordance with law and policy guidelines.
- To have an understanding of the Local Council Tax Support Scheme in accordance with local policy and guidelines.
- Make simple changes in respect of Council Taxdiscounts.Ensure that demand notices are issued in a timely manner, referring any matters of doubt to a Senior Billing and Compliance officer.
- Undertake enquiries to identify exemptions, discounts and reliefs from council tax.
- Verify and validate information, making all necessary calculations to determine entitlement and notifying customers accordingly.
- Liaise with Outreach and Engagement Officers in relation to establishment of liabilities, reliefs and other queries, and claims for benefit and LCTS.
- To maintain an awareness of current legislation, policy and guidance relating to Council Tax.
- Answer queries from customers for clarification of Council Tax liability, referring any errors discovered to the billing team.
- To liaise with all internal and external partners as required.
- Undertake all the duties within the framework of Equal Opportunities.
- Any other duties appropriate to the post: These other duties must be equivalent to or below the salary and status of the role and, where appropriate, under the Equality Act 2010, due consideration must be given to any employees with a “protected characteristic”.
- You must cooperate in all matters relating to Health and Safety and implement all procedures for your job role. The identification of Health and Safety related risks within the working environment must be highlighted to your management.
The Experience You Will Bring
- A customer service background with proven experience of interacting with customers face to face, over the telephone and in writing.
- A good working knowledge of Council Tax law and procedures
- Experience of customer/public contact demonstrating good communication and interpersonal skills
- Computer literate with experience of using Microsoft Office products and CIVICA Open Revenues.
- Educated to GCSE level or equivalent, indicating an aptitude for mathematics and English language.
Why choose Basildon Council?
Basildon Borough Council is one of the largest local authorities in the East of England region and serves a population of approximately 172,000 people. The town of Basildon is regarded as a key economic hub with the main areas of employment being engineering, research and development, distribution and financial services. Basildon is also the second biggest economy in the Thames Gateway, outside of Canary Wharf.
Working for Basildon Borough Council means making a practical and positive difference to the lives of people living and working in the Borough and provides a fulfilling career.
Each of our employees - whatever job role they are undertaking - can feel motivated by having a unique opportunity to use their skills to make Basildon a better place to live. Whether it is conserving our countryside, by regenerating our Borough, by housing our residents or by collecting the refuse on time.
Note: ECC are advertising this role on behalf of Basildon Council.
Basildon Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults, and expects all employees, contractors and volunteers to share its commitment to prevent abuse, harm or exploitation.
The Council applies a robust recruitment vetting process. If you are successful you will need to undergo a Pre-employment Vetting Procedure.
What you should do next
If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.
If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk