Consumer Energy Debt Adviser

LLOYD'S REGISTER INTERNATIONAL; Greater Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton is recruiting a Consumer Energy Debt Adviser to deliver tailored debt advice primarily by telephone, with potential webchat in future. You will support clients with energy debt, assess needs, and provide budgeting guidance in a high-volume, KPI-driven environment.

You will receive classroom and on-the-job training, with opportunities to obtain the CertMAP qualification. A trauma-informed, empathetic approach and strong listening skills are essential for success in

Qualifications

• Experience delivering information, guidance or advice to clients.
• Experience supporting clients over the telephone.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to engage a diverse range of clients.
• Organisational skills to prioritise deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Willingness to undertake professional development and training.
• Empathetic, trauma-informed approached and resilient in challenging situations.

Responsibilities

• Provide high quality tailored debt advice through one-off advice and ongoing casework to clients.
• Conduct effective interviewing using sensitive questioning techniques.
• Identify client money advice and debt needs.
• Advise on emergency issues and how to deal with them.
• Inform clients about debt solutions and implications for choices.
• Assess grants or one-off support and assist with applications.
• Help clients set sustainable budgets and maximise income.

Skills

Client-facing communication

Telephone support

Interpersonal skills

Organisational skills

Trauma-informed approach

Empathy and resilience

Meeting KPIs

Attention to detail

Adaptability

Tools

Casebook case management

Job description

Consumer Energy Debt Adviser

Job summary

Salary: £ 25,000 - £27,000

Location: Bury & Bolton

Workplace: Hybrid working

Contract: Permanent

Hours per week: 35

About the role

Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton (CABB) is a leading provider of social welfare law advice and information, supporting thousands of clients every year. We are a busy, client focused and dynamic service with a track record of delivering high quality advice face to face, over the phone and digitally.

Our communities are facing unprecedented challenges with continued rising costs. The rising cost-of-living continue to directly impact individuals and families, with more people than ever in negative budgets, debt and housing crises.

This role is part of an exciting new national project – Consumer Energy Debt Advice (CEDA) service, which is a fully digital (primarily telephone, with possible scope for webchat delivery in future) debt advice service for clients who present with at least one form of energy debt. It is intended to reduce the impact of personal debt by providing debt solutions to clients. This is expected to be a high-volume project (specific KPIs to be established), providing tailored advice over the telephone to meet client needs.

There’s no ‘average’ call – advice is tailored, and each client is treated equally. It can sometimes be a challenging role, but you will be fully trained and supported, working as a key part of an approachable and supportive team in a rewarding environment – and working alongside an established team of social welfare law advisers.

This is a fantastic opportunity for personal and professional development, where you will be fully trained and supported in this role, both through national ‘classroom’ based training, on the job shadowing and internal training, and other development opportunities, including opportunities to obtain the Certificate in Money Advice Practice (CertMAP); the leading debt advice qualification for debt advisers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While some knowledge and experience in advice is desirable, it is not essential due to the training provided.

To be successful in this role you will be able to work in a trauma informed manner, with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail, exhibiting excellent listening and questioning skills.

About you:

• Experience in delivering information, guidance or advice to clients/customers
• Experience of supporting clients/customers over the telephone
• Excellent interpersonal skills to engage with a diverse range of clients,
• Organisational skills with the ability to adapt, prioritise deadlines and competing tasks in a fast-paced environment,
• A genuine passion for continual professional development,
• Be empathetic, compassionate and resilient, understand how to use trauma informed approaches and be adaptable to client needs
• Be resilient and adaptable - this is a high pressured role
• Key elements and tasks within this role include:
• Provide high quality tailored debt advice through one-off advice and ongoing casework to clients through;
• Effective interviewing – using sensitive and questioning skills
• Identify client’s money advice and debt needs
• Identify emergency advice issues, advising/supporting on dealing with these emergency issues
• Advise and empower clients through informing of debt solutions and their implications
• Assess if grants/one-off support is available to client and advise on how to apply/support where possible
• Support clients to set sustainable budgets and maximise their income
• Empower clients to set their own priorities
• Identify vulnerable clients who require additional support and act for them where possible
• Work closely with colleagues within the organisation and external partners to provide holistic advice and support to all clients.
• Achieve performance targets required of the adviser post (KPIs) and ensure that all work meets quality standards and the requirements of FCA regulations, MaPS standards and Advice Quality Standards.
• Maintain detailed case records for the purpose of continuity of casework, information retrieval, statistical monitoring and report preparation (using national case management system Casebook).

Please note we will be actively interviewing successful candidates during the application stage and reserve the right to close the vacancy early.

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