Debt Collection Officer

Overview

The Income Collection team is part of the Business Service Centre. Our primary goal is to maximise the collection of debt outstanding to the council across a range of services. Joining us, you'll contribute towards this goal by dealing with businesses and customers to pursue debts owed to Leicester City Council and ensure they are paid in a timely fashion. This is an important role in ensuring that the council's income is maintained, and the amount of debt owed to the council is minimised and reduced.

This is a full‑time, permanent position working 37 hours per week Monday to Friday. You'll be based at Town Hall.

As a Debt Collection Officer, you'll manage a portfolio of cases, taking actions to pursue payment including communications to and from debtors via the telephone, email and letters, establishing an ability to pay and arranging repayments whilst maintaining a professional standard of customer service. You'll assess income & expenditure information along with supporting documentation, assess debtors' likelihood and ability to pay, and obtain details for possible further enforcement options.

You'll deal with external debt enquiries and various forms of correspondence. For example, missing payments, reconciliations, remittances and sensitive case queries such as financial hardship, social care, and deceased cases including contact with external bodies such as solicitors, debt advice agencies, insolvency agents and bailiffs.

In addition, you'll manage internal enquiries and responses between departments issuing invoices and the debtors being invoiced, when queries, disputes and complaints are received, to ensure timely responses, while monitoring and reviewing payment arrangements.

You must communicate effectively to deal with customer enquiries and have significant experience working in a customer-focused environment, including face‑to‑face, telephone and written communication. Experience in a finance environment with credit control, debt enforcement or accounts receivable is particularly desirable.

You should also have experience in using a range of IT applications and systems, including substantial experience with computerised finance packages, spreadsheets, e‑mails, telephony, web and database applications. Practical experience in MS Excel and Word is essential.

We offer a generous annual leave entitlement, membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme, the option of flexible working and a range of flexible benefits such as discounts on city buses and trains. Our work environment encourages a healthy work/life balance and provides opportunities for training and development. For an illustrative value of your benefits package, take a look at our benefits calculator.