Debt Collection Finance Assistant

**About the role**

**Debt Collection Finance Assistant**

Permanent, Full Time

Up to £22,361 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Anywhere worker

**This position is an Anywhere Worker role with the expectation the successful worker will attend County Hall, Chelmsford one day per week.**

**Interviews will be undertaken remotely using Microsoft Teams.**

**The Role**

Purchase to Pay (P2P) and Income aims to provide a comprehensive financial transactional and support service, maximising new and innovative technology to provide excellent customer service using a multi skilled workforce.

Working within Income Collection in order to maximise the income generated for Services in Adult Social Care at Essex County Council, alongside ensuring effective recovery of aged debt. Finance Assistants will work with customers to ensure that their invoices for Adult Social Care services are paid promptly with a view to arranging automated future payments including direct debits.

Experienced in working as a team member across a flexible and multi skilled workforce, delivering excellent customer service. You will need to manage and respond to customer queries to seek resolution.

Knowledge of Income Collection processes is desirable but not essential as full training will be provided. The role requires good interpersonal and communication skills to deliver excellent customer service.

**Responsibilities**
- Ensure effective recovery of Adult Social Care Income.
- Work towards effectively building key stakeholder relationships and effectively managing conversations in order to resolve debt issues.
- Contribute towards delivery of Key KPI’s in delivering the above requirements in an effective, compassionate and compliant manner.
- Effective in managing queries and disputes in order to ensure effective resolutions.
- Negotiating payments and promoting automated processes to service users, in order to reduce the likelihood of repeated debts.
- Contributes to the delivery of the business plan for financial transactions, in support of the wider organisational vision.
- Responsible for processing and managing financial transactions, following defined business processes, inputting and interpreting data to ensure quality, consistency, accuracy, timeliness and high performance.
- Responsible for delivering all activities to meet defined deadlines, proactively reporting any risks or issues for early resolution.
- Provides support and guidance to internal and external customers in a professional manner, in line with financial processes, ensuring that policy and legislation are met.
- Carries out basic reporting, which contributes to the management of organisational performance, maximises income and ensures compliance with Financial Regulations and ECC Policies.
- Work flexibly and collaboratively across P2P and Income to deliver finance support.
- Recommend process improvements and redesign to achieve best practice and organisational efficiency.
- Contributes to maintaining currency on legislation changes and translating these into local policy and procedure, to identify and review potential changes in technology.
- Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

**The Experience You Will Bring**
- Excellent communication skills are essential as well as an ability to build and establish relationships. A good telephone manner is needed along with a firm, fair and friendly approach.
- Negotiation skills are helpful but not essential.
- Ability to deliver effective, administrative duties; well organised, reliable, and able to meet deadlines, whilst appropriately handling confidential and sensitive information.
- Educated to RQF Level 2 (GCSE) must include English and Mathematics, or equivalent by experience.
- Commitment to continued personal development within a working environment.
- Some knowledge of P2P/Income systems and demonstrable accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchase to pay and e-invoicing experience would be desirable.
- Good interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written.
- Aptitude and willingness to work flexibly in multi skilled Operational Teams.
- Level of good competency using Microsoft office packages including, Outlook, Word and Excel.
- Ability to interpret varied information for supporting continuous improvements in service delivery.
- Ability to build effective working relationships with internal and external customers, suppliers and partners.

To read more about us please visit: Corporate Services

**Why Essex?**

Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest - Basildon and Harlow - are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major popula