Debt Recovery Officer

Remedy Recruitment are currently seeking an experienced Debt Recovery Officer to work within a busy Council in Essex, this role sits within the Housing Needs.

**Salary £10**
**Full time**

Duties and responsibilities

• Interact with people experiencing difficulties in paying their debts at negotiate payment plans.
• Select appropriate cases for Enforcement Agents (Bailiffs) to visit, attachments of earnings or benefits to be implemented, request charging orders, commence insolvency (bankruptcy/winding up) or committal to prison procedures.
• Select and pursue cases through the County Court process, raising a summons, applying for judgement, then pursuing through Papers for Questioning or High Court action if appropriate.
• Tracing people that have absconded with computer based intelligence and via telephony.
• To educate people and rehabilitate non payers
• Interact with senior members of staff and with local Councillors
• Detect "vulnerable" people and support them and sign post them to Citizens Advice, Money Advice etc
• To interact with Debt Collection Agencies managing debts on behalf of the Council
• To respond to complaints
• To ensure adherence to the Councils Fair Debt Policy
• To attend County Court and Magistrates Court as required
• To work with colleagues to achieve service plan objectives/targets.
• To participate in Employee Development Scheme/Appraisals and contribute to the identification of your own and team development needs.
• To actively promote the Council's Equal Opportunity Policy and Diversity Strategy and observe the standard of conduct which prevents discrimination taking place.
• To maintain awareness of and commitment to the Council's Equal Opportunity Policies in relation to both employment and service delivery.
• To ensure full compliance with Health and Safety legislation, including the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Council's Health and Safety Policy and manual and all locally agreed safe methods of work.

Essential Skills

• A knowledge debt collection processes
• Negotiation skills
• Experience of working in an office environment.
• Experience of communicating with members of the public both verbally and face to face.
• Experience of inputting and extracting information from the computer.
• Ability to communicate effectively with members of the public on the telephone and in person.
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally, and in writing.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to prioritise work to meet deadlines.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Ability to react positively to change .
• Flexibility and ability to work between core hours of 8am and 8pm Monday - Saturday.

A knowledge of Oracle or Northgate systems would be helpful, and an understanding of the County Court and Magistrates processes.

For more information please call Bronte at Remedy on 0208 418 7677.