Former Tenant Arrears (FTA) Recovery Officer
Joining us, you get to work for not just one high performing London Borough, but two.
Sutton and Kingston councils have a number of shared services serving both authorities, with some teams and roles more focussed on one Council than the other, but the majority are shared across both, meaning you get multiple opportunities to learn from a wider pool of activities and two different political bodies.
We work flexibly in both Sutton and Kingston offices, and support working at home or flexible working patterns that enable you to tailor your working and personal life. We provide the equipment and tools to enable you to work flexibly, and in return ask you to use that flexibility to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver.
There are some really exciting things happening in both Sutton and Kingston. We are developing the London Cancer Hub, a world leading cancer research and treatment hub that will bring together professionals from across different sectors to identify and test new treatments and therapies. We are undertaking the largest housing regeneration programme ever delivered in Kingston, building new energy efficient housing that will transform some of our oldest Council owned housing. Both boroughs have publicly committed to doing what they can to tackle the climate emergency and are investing in new technologies and societal change that will help bring carbon emissions down and improve our climate impact.
You should choose Sutton and Kingston if you are looking for an opportunity that will challenge you to deliver more, support you to achieve personal ambitions, and expect you to put borough residents at the heart of what you do.
Sutton is a well connected attractive part of London that has a reputation for excellent schools, green and leafy open spaces, and a history that drives a thriving heritage and culture offer through our museums and libraries. The Council is controlled by a long established Liberal Democrat Administration and has high ambitions set out in its corporate plan "Ambitious for Sutton", that will ensure Sutton remains a great place to live, work and raise a family. The Council plays a leading role in a number of local partnerships and places great emphasis on engaging effectively with its residents, listening to local voices and making their message heard across London Government.
Kingston is a beautiful Royal borough with a historic setting on the banks of the Thames with excellent schools and a bustling retail centre, all surrounded by open green spaces such as Richmond Park and Bushey Park, former recreation grounds for Tudor Kings and Queens. The Council is controlled by a Liberal Democrat Administration and has a council plan "Greener, Fairer, Safer, Together", that sets out a vision to be a vibrant, diverse and inclusive borough where residents are active, empowered, engaged and able to remain independent and resilient. The Council engages with residents through a number of forums and events through the year, and like Sutton plays a leading role in developing the South West Region of London.
About the Role
The Shared Finance Service ambition is to add value, inspire success and this role is part of the Shared Finance Service (SFS) team collectively responsible for delivering SFS activities to realise this ambition.
As the Former Tenant Arrears (FTA) Recovery Officer the post holder will be working within the Shared Finance Service, Housing Income & Financial Inclusion Team to administer and collect housing rent for Kingston Council.
- To ensure the collection of rent arrears for general needs and temporary accommodation former tenant debts, through early intervention with an emphasis on personal contact with the former tenants.
- Recovery of former tenant rent arrears and court costs
- Responsibility for performance in all areas of former tenant income management.
Use tracing agencies to locate former tenants and recover rent arrears debt. - Using computer records to investigate former tenant debts that are over 6 years old to decide which are statute barred and therefore need to be written off, and which have valid money judgments and therefore need to continue with recovery action.
- Produce performance information on a monthly basis for all aspects of the role.
Identify, foster and maintain relationships with external agencies to ensure effective outcomes are achieved.
Ensure that IT Security and Data Protection Legislation is adhered to at all times.
Take personal responsibility for seeking value for money opportunities.
Ensure personal compliance with financial regulations.
Take personal responsibility for your own Health, Safety and Welfare and that of colleagues in the workplace.
Undertake and contribute to organisation wide projects as agreed. - To run a report from Universal Housing and transfer to an excel sheet, so the data can be filtered.
- For the debts that are statute barred, to separate those debts under £10,000 and over £10,001.
- Under £10,000 - To print off the relevant accounts from the excel sheet and complete a short standard cover sheet for sign off and to complete a tick box sheet and present the documents to the Rent Arrears Recovery Lead for sign off.
- Over £10,001 - To complete as above and to include a short summary of each case with evidence to support the write off decision.
- Using computer records to investigate former tenant debts that are under £350 to decide if they are uneconomical to pursue and therefore need to be written off.
- To print off the relevant accounts from the excel sheet and complete a short standard cover and tick box sheet. Present these documents to the Rent Income Recovery Temporary Accommodation Lead for sign off.
The purpose of the team is to work within the Shared Finance Service to:
- Prevent rent arrears from escalating in line with the Council's rent collection policies and procedures in an effort to prevent serious debt and homelessness
- Identify where tenants may be experiencing difficulty in meeting their commitment to pay rent (and other such bills as council tax) and be able to provide debt counseling and advice or referral to the Financial Inclusion Team.
- To refer residents to internal and external support agencies, where appropriate, to ensure that their license can be sustained and the resident is supported throughout.
- To work proactively and contribute ideas to improve income maximisation for the council and for individual residents.
- To make regular and early contact with all residents in arrears.
- Negotiate repayment arrangements with residents and take corrective action where such agreements are not maintained.
- The FTA Rent Recovery Officer works directly with the former tenant to enter into a repayment plan to clear their debt, through early contact and intervention.
- Preparing cases for write off where required.
This is a busy, varied, and exciting role and although the ideal candidate will come from a social housing background, we are open to applications from people with transferable skills. For candidates with strong customer service skills and experience in a customer-facing role, an eagerness to learn, we are always keen to grow and develop talent and encourage applications from those who have an interest to pursue a career in Finance within the Council.
To support the team and delivery against our statutory responsibilities, the successful candidate should also demonstrate:
- The ability to organise own workload to ensure deadlines and service targets and standards are met and be able to prepare information or statistics at request
- Able to deal with sometimes difficult or distressed/vulnerable customers concerning former Rent arrears in person and by telephone and be able to compose thorough reports on all cases.
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we're committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We're constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.
In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.
Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:
- Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
- Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
- Three volunteering days per year in Sutton or Kingston
- Comprehensive learning and development programme
- Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
- Interest free season ticket loans
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Car parking scheme
- Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
- Zip car scheme
- Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
- Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
- Subsidised gym membership
Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.
The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Additional Information
We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen here. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.
We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.
The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.
Job Profile
_Role profile FTA Recovery Officer (Grade 5) .pdf - 95KB Opens in a new window