Income and Recovery Officer (Adult Social Care)

Are you a customer-focused professional with strong communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills? Do you have experience in income collection, debt recovery or financial administration, and the ability to balance sensitive customer circumstances with the need to recover outstanding payments?

This is an opportunity to play an important role in supporting the delivery of a high-quality Adult Social Care service, helping residents understand their financial responsibilities while ensuring that outstanding debts are managed fairly, effectively and in line with relevant legislation and Council policies.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

We support hybrid working, it's important to us that working arrangements are designed to enable our employees to excel and within this role you'll have the opportunity to work in a way that suits your lifestyle.

About The Role:

As an Income and Recovery Officer, you will be responsible for recovering outstanding Adult Social Care invoice arrears, responding to customer enquiries and supporting the accurate and timely processing of billing and payments.

You will work with residents who may be experiencing financial difficulties, providing advice, negotiating realistic repayment arrangements and signposting customers to appropriate welfare benefits and debt advice services. You will also work closely with colleagues across the Council and external agencies to resolve complex enquiries and achieve positive outcomes.

Your key responsibilities will include:

Managing outstanding invoices and taking appropriate recovery action in accordance with legislation, policies and procedures.

Negotiating affordable and realistic repayment arrangements with customers experiencing financial difficulties.

Processing billing, invoicing and payment administration accurately and within agreed timescales.

Responding to customer enquiries by telephone, email, face to face and other digital channels, resolving issues wherever possible at first contact.

Providing advice and signposting on welfare benefits, financial support and debt advice services.

Maintaining accurate customer records and preparing detailed case notes to support effective decision-making and recovery action.

Working collaboratively with internal teams and external organisations to resolve enquiries and support residents.

Handling sensitive and sometimes challenging conversations with professionalism, empathy and respect.

You will be an organised, proactive and customer-focused individual who can work effectively in a busy environment while managing competing priorities. You will be confident communicating with a diverse range of customers, including those who may be distressed or facing financial hardship.

You will ideally have experience in income collection, debt recovery, financial administration or a similar customer-facing role, together with an understanding of arrears recovery procedures and relevant legislation.

You will also bring:

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Strong negotiation, analytical and problem-solving abilities.

The ability to interpret procedures and communicate information clearly and accurately.

Good IT skills, including experience using databases, spreadsheets and other computer-based systems.

The ability to maintain accurate records and manage your own workload effectively.

A flexible, reliable and collaborative approach, with the confidence to use your own initiative.

A commitment to equality, confidentiality and delivering excellent customer service.

Above all, you will understand the importance of treating residents fairly and sensitively, finding practical solutions wherever possible and helping customers make informed decisions about their financial circumstances.