Shropshire Council - Senior Benefits Officer Job Shrewsbury area,England UK,Government

Where your role fits at Shropshire Council

As Shropshire Council we are rightly proud of our achievements and we have proven to be a resilient local authority in our response to the many challenges we overcome, particularly over recent years. We will be continuing this momentum with ambition and a focus on delivering our four key priorities outlined within the Shropshire Plan:
Healthy People, Healthy Environment, Health Economy and Healthy Organisation.

We are committed to achieving this by aligning everything we do to our vision ‘Shropshire – living the best life’; to tell everyone that Shropshire Council is a great place to be.

We will enable a skilled, happy, healthy, diverse, inclusive, empowered, and proud workforce that influences and leads change, addressing any inequalities.

As a member of the Council Tax Team within the Revenues and Benefits Service, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire.

The Revenues and Benefits Service sits within Enabling Services. The Revenues and Benefits Service provides a wide range of services on behalf of the Council that affect the lives of every household and business in the county as well as the many customers paying for the services provided by the whole of the Council.

Overview of your role
The postholder will operate within defined procedures and legislative requirements and will deal with large volumes of work that need to be completed within tight deadlines.

The post holder is responsible for:

Supporting and deputising for the Benefits Team Manager in organising the day-to-day administration of the team

Carrying out complex Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support calculations.
Providing advice and guidance to other team members

Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for?
The post holder will be responsible to as Benefits Team Manager who in turn is responsible for the post holder’s health and safety, training and development.
What will you be doing?

To carry out complex assessments and deal with sensitive queries
To produce standard and non-standard letters and responses which require and in-depth knowledge of procedures for effective and timely liaison with benefit customers
To have regard to the subsidy implications of all data input and decisions made in respect of claims
To liaise with benefit customers relating to more complex issues by telephone, in writing and in person
To provide advice, guidance and support to Benefit Officers and Benefit Support Officers and also Revenues teams
To liaise with the Quality Assurance Team to ensure that assessments of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support are processed accurately and within the targeted time scales. Liaise with the Quality Assurance Team regarding general and individual training requirements
To collate, submit and represent the Council in respect of appeals to the Tribunal Service and Valuation Tribunal
To authorise and approve backdate requests and manual adjustments from Benefit Officers
To interrogate and extract information from the Customer Information System provided by the DWP in order to facilitate the prompt and accurate assessment of Housing Benefit
To recover overpaid Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support in accordance with regulations and the Councils policies
To exercise vigilance in the identification of potentially fraudulent claims and to refer to SFIS, or to local investigations teams where applicable
To liaise with other bodies and agencies in order to facilitate the prompt and accurate assessment of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support
To assist in the development and delivery of staff training programmes
To deputise for the Benefits Team Manager in their absence
Undertake such other duties associated with the activities of the Benefits Service as may be required from time to time

The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce.

What we expect of you

You will:

adopt a customer focused…