Debt Support Officer - ASC

Portsmouth City Council; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 44,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Portsmouth City Council is hiring a Debt Support Officer for Adult Social Care. The role involves recovering debts for Adult Social Care charges, visiting clients at home or care settings, and providing frontline customer service with empathy and integrity.

You will handle face-to-face and telephony interactions, assess financial difficulties, and coordinate with the Financial Assessments and Benefits team to safeguard vulnerable clients.

Qualifications

• Experience in frontline services with excellent customer service skills.
• Ability to build good relationships with clients and internal/external customers.
• Strong analytical and negotiation skills with attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Provide frontline customer service by taking payments and handling queries about care charges.
• Visit clients and their representatives in homes, residential settings or other locations as needed to recover debts.
• Identify potential risks such as financial abuse and trigger safeguarding measures.
• Manage an individual caseload of clients in varying financial difficulties and maintain accurate records.

Skills

Empathy

Customer service

Analytical skills

Negotiation

Attention to detail

Job description

Debt Support Officer - Adult Social Care

Band:7, Salary: £33,119 - £37,562 p.a.

37 hours per week

Your new role

Within this role you will be providing a first class service to Adult Social Care and their clients. The ASC Debt Support Officer is part of the Financial Assessments, Income and Recovery Team, assisting and supporting Adult Social Care clients who find themselves in financial difficulties. You will take a holistic approach in dealing with money matters and support clients in finding the most effective way to regain control of finances and become debt free.

The role requires an empathetic debt recovery approach as you will be working closely with clients, their representatives as well as Adult Social Care professionals and the Financial Assessments and Benefits team.

The primary role is to recover monies owed to Portsmouth City Council from the non-payment of Adult Social Care charges, so this requires a supportive and inclusive approach to debt recovery. Managing an individual caseload of clients in varying levels of financial difficulties, you will be visiting clients and/or client's representatives in their own homes, residential homes, day centres or anywhere necessary.

There will also be an expectation to provide front line customer service by receiving calls from clients and/or their representatives, taking payments, dealing with queries in relation to care charges and raising disputes with care providers. In addition, you will identify any potential risk(s) such as financial abuse and instigate appropriate safeguarding measures to ensure that all clients have the same quality service.

Identify potential capacity issues, referring to Adult Social Care to ensure client's future finances are protected and vulnerable clients are not at risk.

Who is the person summary:

As well as experience in working within a front-line service with excellent customer service skills you will have an understanding of the chargeable services provided by Adult Social Care and how the Care Act 2014 underpins the work we do. You will have the ability to form good relationships with internal and external customers and have experience in Debt recovery procedures and techniques. With strong analytical and negotiation skills you will have an excellent attention to detail and empathy, sensitivity and integrity when dealing with clients.

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours .

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

As part of Local Government Reorganisation, current plans will see Portsmouth City Council combine with the district and borough councils of Fareham, Gosport and Havant and parts of East Hampshire and Winchester district councils to form a new, larger unitary authority for south east Hampshire.

We are working towards an implementation date of 1st April 2028, known as vesting day, subject to Parliamentary approval. Until then, we remain focused on maintaining continuity, supporting our workforce, and continuing to deliver excellent services to our residents throughout the transition to the new unitary authority.

This is an exciting time to join us, offering the opportunity to contribute to organisational transformation, develop your career, and help shape future services for our communities.

More information about Local Government Reorganisation can be found on our website: https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/services/council-and-democracy/your-council/devolution-and-lgr/

Additional Information

Please ensure that you read the job profile for full details on the post. This role is a visiting role and does support hybrid working, however office attendance is required minimum 2-days a week for full-time staff, this remains flexible, subject to business needs.

We are not able to offer sponsorship for this position.

Our recruitment process

Full information about our recruitment process can be found on our support for applicants' page: Support for applicants - Careers portal

You must demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal

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

Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our career's portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Adults Board safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.

You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles.