Important Information for Current Barnet Council Employees

Where possible, employees who have access to Oracle are encouraged to apply via the Opportunity Marketplace (Internal Career Site). This helps to ensure applications are correctly identified as internal and avoids potential delays during the recruitment process.

About Barnet Council

Barnet is a borough with much to be proud of. Our excellent schools, vibrant town centres, vast green spaces and diverse communities all help make it a great place to live and work. As a council we want to build on these strengths as we move into the future. We are growing and developing as an organisation to meet the challenges facing our borough and we are committed to working with partner organisations and residents to make Barnet even better. As an organisation, our staff are committed to Our Values: Learning to Improve, Caring, Inclusive, Collaborative – which drive everything we do.

About the role

Work as part of a dedicated, multi-disciplinary team to review and process adult social care cases with an outstanding debt to the local authority and develop more effective process to prevent debt occurring and address it early. This role will be based within Customer Finance but will work across Multidisciplinary Teams with a focus on debt recovery arrangements.

The key focus of this role is to ensure that both current and future debt recovery arrangements are fit for purpose, meet the councils financial policies and procedure, are compliant with our principles of strengths based working and support the work of social care professionals working with vulnerable clients and their families in situations where a debt has arisen.

Please click here to download the Job description for this role. (Right-click and select “Open in new tab” so you can keep the job description open while completing your application)

This will be achieved in the following ways:
The post holder will review case notes and work with social care staff to understand a client’s circumstances and case history, including reasons that they have got into debt with the authority.
Work with clients and their families / carers to resolve queries and arrange payments of outstanding debts. This will include phone calls and (often) home visits where appropriate.
Complete or update financial assessments and setup ongoing payments arrangements to avoid future debts (include promotion of direct debit).
Update case notes to ensure that they are accurate and support ongoing case management.
Support work to agree best working processes for the department and contributing to written policies and procedures.
Provide regular feedback to the Customer Finance Team Manager on the progress of their casework, escalating issues whereby there is a delay in recovery or other complexity requiring management oversight.
Work closely with external agencies in respect of debt recovery activity ensuring that clients and their families have access to appropriate support in respect of debt recovery activity.
Ensure that case information including financial information is up to date on Mosaic enabling the service to run reports on outstanding debt and track their recovery.
Ensure that appropriate financial control procedures are in place and that restrictions around recovery arrangements as set out in policy are rigorously applied.

What we offer

31 days annual leave, plus public and bank holidays
Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme, which provides a valuable guaranteed income in your retirement together with security for your dependents
Work-life balance options may include hybrid working, flexitime, job share, home working, part-time
A vast range of lifestyle discounts from major retailers, supermarkets, energy suppliers and more
Broad range of payroll benefits including cycle to work, eye care vouchers, travel and gym membership
Excellent training and development opportunities
Employee well- being training programs including confidential employee assistance

How to apply

Read the job description and person specification before clicking ‘Apply’ to commence the online application form. If you would like any further information about the role before applying, please contact grace.akinfe@barnet.gov.uk - Income and Recovery Lead

System notice: Some dates shown on our online application system (such as “Apply Before”) appear in US date format (MM/DD/YYYY) due to Oracle system settings.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful tool to support your application as a reasonable adjustment, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn, escalated to counter Fraud for further investigation and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Barnet 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. Barnet operates stringent safer recruitment procedures, this may include AI Detection Screening, Biometric ID/Right to Work Checks, Qualification and Registration Checks, Up to 6 years of Employment Data and Insights to Accelerate Screening (Konfir), Up to 5 years of Employment History References, DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) Checks, Credit Checks and Social Media, Sanctions and Occupational Health Screening.

To deliver Barnet Council’s commitment to equality of opportunity in the provision of services, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. As such we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

Barnet Council embraces all forms of flexible working (including part-time, compressed hours, and hybrid working) and is committed to offering employees a healthy work-life balance. Candidates are encouraged to talk about relevant requirements and preferences at interview. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Barnet Council is a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

All posts with the council are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the council satisfaction your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient number of applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

Please ensure you regularly check the email account (including JUNK MAIL folders) that you use to submit your application, as any further communication regarding your application will be sent electronically. Should you not hear from us within four working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.