Assistant Finance Officer

x1 Housing Benefit Overpayment Assistant Finance Officer

x1 Adult Social Care Assistant Finance Officer

Experience Assistant Finance Officer

• A minimum of three years' recent experience recovering Housing Benefit Overpayment debt or Adult Social Care within a local authority.
• Experience of independently managing a Housing Benefit Overpayment caseload, prioritising workloads and progressing recovery action with minimal supervision.
• Experience of applying Housing Benefit legislation, recovery regulations and departmental procedures when determining and progressing appropriate recovery action.
• Experience of liaising with customers, the Department for Work and Pensions, enforcement agents and internal stakeholders to maximise recovery and resolve complex cases.
• Experience of independently managing an Adult Social Care debt portfolio, prioritising workloads and progressing cases to resolution with minimal supervision.
• Experience of recovering charges arising from financial assessments, care charges and deferred payment agreements, applying relevant legislation, policies and recovery procedures.
• Experience of working with vulnerable customers, their representatives and partner organisations to achieve appropriate debt recovery outcomes.

Essential Skills Assistant Finance Officer

• Sound knowledge of Housing Benefit Overpayment recovery legislation, regulations and recovery methods including PDP, DEA, BTR etc.
• Ability to analyse customer circumstances and make informed decisions on appropriate recovery action in accordance with legislation and policy.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to manage difficult conversations and achieve positive recovery outcomes.
• Competent IT skills, including Microsoft Office and housing benefit, revenues or financial management systems.

Basic DBS required

Salary is Scale 6 / SO1.

Directorate: Finance and Investment

Division: Finance and Property

Business Unit: Financial Planning & Management/Exchequer Services

Grade: Scale 6 / SO1

Responsible to: Finance Officer

Responsible for: None

Main purpose of post

To provide a proactive customer focused exchequer service to given service areas and suppliers, taking personal responsibility to resolving issues/problems in a collaborative manner (where appropriate) to ensure a positive outcome is achieved and excellent customer service is delivered.

To proactively develop strong working relationships with given service and support functions to manage and deliver services for that area, ensure proper processes are being followed, being a point of contact, improve communication and automation of tasks.

To support the development of financial competence and awareness of the correct exchequer processes for end users to use within the Council, including compliance from them.

To provide administrative financial support and advice within respective service areas and also to a range of customers. Providing financial information in a timely manner; including but not limited to:

All local finance processes and transactions are properly carried out, and that a clear audit trail is maintained

Contributing to financial reporting

Key Accountabilities Assistant Finance Officer

1. Provide effective, responsive, proactive and valued exchequer support with given areas, work with and support them in achieving their outcomes while driving financial improvements and delivering excellent customer service. This includes taking personal responsibility and ownership to resolve any issues/problems that may arise, working through them individually or collaboratively with colleagues, other service areas and suppliers to resolve those issue and ensure positive outcomes are delivered.

Final June 2022

2. To provide administrative financial support and advice within respective service areas and also to a range of customers. Providing financial information in a timely manner; including but not limited to: All local finance processes and transactions are properly carried out, and that a clear audit trail is maintained and contributing to financial reporting

3. Work routinely on computerised financial transaction systems and standard software packages (including running reports to extract and analyse information, undertaking system reconciliations and resolving any differences identified and preparing spreadsheet calculations as necessary).

4. Maintain and control accurate sensitive financial information and control systems to ensure high quality financial standards across the council.

5. Ensure successful delivery against performance indicators, including those measuring the timely payment of invoices, income collection, debt management and recovery, within the area and report on these as required. Assist in the timely presentation and submission of other internal financial management information as required