Housing Income Officer

Temporary Housing Income Officer

K&C

Please do not apply for this role unless your CV meets the following general requirements, as well as the more specific ones listed further down the ad:

1. You must be UK based and have the right to work in the UK.
2. For office based and hybrid roles, your commute to the place of work must be less than 1 hour.
3. This is a temporary role, initially 2-3 months. Please do not apply if you are seeking a permanent position.

Key Requirements:

1. Knowledge of public sector housing issues.
2. Knowledge of rent arrears issues and ability to implement arrears procedure to maximise client income.
3. An understanding of the government's agenda on homelessness and welfare reform.
4. Customer service experience with the ability to deal with clients in stressful situations in a firm manner.
5. Experience of working in a financial environment and dealing with client income arrears and Housing Benefit recovery.
6. Experience of using computer packages including finance applications.
7. Experience of dealing and liaising with solicitors, advice agencies and client advocates.

The purpose of the role is to be responsible for the collection of accommodation charges and to ensure arrears are reduced and income is increased. Work includes making contact with applicants by letter, telephone and home visits, troubleshooting, supporting applicants to make benefit claims, developing relationships with support agencies and close liaison with other teams with the Housing Needs service.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Deliver an Income Management (IM) service for the Council, encompassing all aspects of business-critical cash receipting, recalls, refunds, web payments, E-Forms, and income interfaces.
2. Work within a defined financial control framework to ensure controls are in place and adhered to over allocation of income and refunds/returns.
3. Work with internal services and external customers to ensure end-to-end queries are dealt with efficiently and effectively and maintain good working relationships with service providers and banks.
4. Monitor and report on any unallocated cash, under or over payments, and minimise the unallocated cash balance.