Assessment and Income Officer - Financial Assessment and Income

The starting salary for this role is £29,291 per annum based on working 36 hours per week.

This role sits within the Financial Assessment & Income Collections service, which is part of the Adult Social Care directorate. You will play a critical role in providing advice and information to service users in relation to welfare benefits entitlement, the council's charging policy and making payment for social care services, generally through direct telephone contact or face to face. The role will ensure that residents are financially assessed promptly in accordance with legislation and policy, maximising income by way of support with welfare benefit claims and supporting people to make payment of care charges when due. You will promote the use of online tools, enabling residents to self-serve and engage with the council digitally where possible.

We are looking for someone with knowledge of the charging principles for social care services and who understands local authority debt recovery procedures.

This role is critical to ensuring all residents have access to information on paying for care in advance of service provision and that all care charges due are collected in accordance with council policies and debt recovery procedures.

You will also play a lead role in identifying potential opportunities for the council to secure debt. You will be responsible for receiving and resolving queries referred from first line support and liaise with internal and external customers within set guidelines and parameters to ensure the smooth operation of the process.

We will expect you to maintain and develop a high level of customer service by contributing to improvements and changes to systems and processes. Working under the supervision, direction and guidance of your line manager. You will have a 'can do' attitude, be self-motivated, flexible and focused. A working knowledge of SAP and the council’s charging database ContrOCC would be helpful.

With the upcoming social care charging reforms this is an exciting time to join Adult Social Care, as we strive to enable residents to self-serve using online tools and this is a great opportunity for someone with a knowledge of adult social care charging principles to join us on this journey. The service is co-located with Adult Social Care and finance staff in various settings across the county. Your preferred location can be discussed at interview.

At Surrey, our values and behaviours are just as important as our skills and abilities. They shape who we are as an organisation. Find out more about the values we follow.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on the 3rd October 2022.

Interviews will take place week commencing the 10th October 2022.

A standard DBS check will be required for this role.

Contact Details

For an informal discussion please contact Nigel Field on 07896 778105.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Benefits

From flexible working to job sharing (where possible) we are committed to providing a healthy work life balance. A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from 26 days annual leave, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service, a generous local government salary related pension, as well as the option to join our car lease scheme. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit MyBenefits for Surrey County Council staff.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer of first choice reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all under represented groups.