Local Taxation Officer - Portsmouth
37 hours per week

The Service

An opportunity has arisen within Revenues & Benefits, part of the Finance and Resources directorate.

Revenues and Benefits provide customer and financial services to the residents and businesses of Portsmouth, and is part of the wider Finance and Resources directorate. The Local Taxation team manages the billing and collection of Council Tax.

As a service we take pride in our work by valuing others, focusing on whats important so that we make a real and positive difference. Our values are outlined in our Ways of Working and our Guiding Principles and if they reflect how you are and how you work then this could be the role that meets your expectations.

What is the post?

Reporting to the Local Taxation Team Leader, the post holder will administer council tax accounts, ensuring databases are accurately updated to reflect the collection and administration of council tax.


The post holder will need to have good knowledge of council tax administration and will have experience of working in a similar role. The Local Taxation Officer will be responsible for:

* Dealing with a high volume of customer enquiries by correspondence, telephone.

* Assessing requests for discounts, disregards, exemptions etc.

* Determining who is liable for council.

* Negotiating payment arrangement and provide advice to customers experiencing financial difficulty.


Who is the person?

You need to have:

1. A good working knowledge of council tax is essential

2. A good working knowledge of IT systems - Northgate system is essential to the role and experience with Enterprise is desirable but not essential

3. Be able to demonstrate excellent customer service skills.

4. Good communication skills and the ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English

5. A good working knowledge of MS office including the ability to use the internet and online resources to obtain information. Knowledge of updating records and accounts in a back office system is desirable

6. Negotiating skills. These will enable you to negotiate/advise customers on a range of issues e.g. liability for council tax

7. Experience of working with internal & external customers, some of whom may not be happy with your recommendations, as you will be required to review situations where the outcome is unclear and make decisions based on legislation and local policy.

8. Flexibility to adapt to the evolving needs of Revenues and Benefits and the Finance and Resources directorate.

9. Awareness of others' feelings needs and concerns.


General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
As part of any recruitment process, Portsmouth City Council collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. Portsmouth City Council is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Completing and sending an application in for a vacancy is your consent for us to process your data for the purpose of recruitment. Your data is not used in any other way and you can withdraw your consent at any point in the recruitment process and we will destroy or delete your information.
For more detailed information on what we collect, how we use, store, delete data and your rights you can access a privacy statement on our Job board.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

Eden Brown Synergy is an equal opportunities employer.

Eden Brown Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales with registered number 3643845. Our registered address is 5th floor 4 Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AR, part of nGAGE Specialist Recruitment Limited T/A nGAGE Talent. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. This message is intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please send it back to us, and immediately and permanently delete it. Do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in any attachment. We take reasonable precautions to ensure no viruses are present in this email but cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage sustained as a result of computer viruses and the recipient must ensure that the email (and attachments) are virus free.