Technical Officer - Benefits

Our Values

It’s great to know that you are interested in working with us at Coventry City Council. As a prospective employee, it is important that everyone who works for us is committed to our One Coventry values and shares our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation. 

Our Values are:

About the team we are recruiting to

Coventry City Council’s Benefits Service is comprised of diverse, multi-talented teams who all have the same aim, to help the city’s most vulnerable residents.  

Our work is varied and covers the assessment and administration of schemes that provide financial help and support for those in need. 

Specifically, the teams are responsible for the delivery of: 

• Housing Benefit and Discretionary Housing Payments which we administer on behalf of the Department for Works and Pensions. We also recover any overpaid housing benefit 

• Council Tax Support which is a local scheme that helps residents with their Council Tax charges 

• Free School Meals, by working closely with schools we aim to ensure every child who is entitled has a free school meal  

• Community Support Grant Scheme which includes assistance in extreme emergency situations and can provide citizens help to resettle back into the community by providing essential furniture items.  

We embrace the ONE COVENTRY approach, working closely with our external partners and other Council teams, such as the Housing and Homeless teams and Children’s teams, ensuring we have a holistic approach to supporting our residents.

What is the job role?

We are looking for a pro-active and forward-thinking individual to join our Technical Team in the Benefits Service. This is a fast-paced customer focussed environment with regularly changing legislation and procedures.

You will be responsible for a wide range of duties including providing technical expertise and guidance and delivering staff training. Training is a key part of the role and experience of designing delivering training courses is essential.

You will form part of our wider management team and will be required to contribute to the development and implementation of policies and new service initiatives, to ensure that service objectives are delivered.

If this sounds like the right challenge for you then we would like to hear from you!

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for someone with extensive experience of working in a Benefits environment. You will have detailed knowledge of Housing Benefit legislation and excellent communication and interpersonal skills.  You will also have detailed knowledge of Housing Benefit legislation, Council Tax Support Schemes, and DWP administered benefits.  

You will need to accurately review Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support decisions, from revision stage through to tribunal hearings. You will need to have previous experience of preparing and presenting for formal appeals. And have experience of preparing and delivering training with the service area and working to timescales and working within a team that delivers improvements  

Analytical skills are a must to interpret complex information and create legislative and procedural documents, as is the ability to be pro-active and make effective accurate decisions.

When applying for this role you will be asked to write a personal statement, when writing your personal statement please include the following:

• Detail about your extensive experience in working in a benefits environment, please give examples of what you have done and achieved.
• Examples of how you have used your knowledge of the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support including the Appeals process 
• Experience of interpreting legislation, procedures and case law
• Demonstrate your use of Benefit IT systems that you have used and have working knowledge of e.g. Anite and Academy and general computer packages including Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc. 

For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'

Interview date(s): 16^th June 2021

You will be required to give a presentation which will form part of the Interview. Details will be included when selected for Interview

About Coventry

Coventry is a lively, multicultural city, which embraces old and new. Around the modern city centre there are traces of history everywhere – in the old city walls, the timber-framed buildings and the reconstructed medieval Spon Street. But Coventry has always had an eye on the future, and is now firmly focused on regenerating and re-inventing itself to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. With major developments and new projects taking place right across the city, Coventry City Council is the place to be!

There's a huge buzz about the city – Coventry ranks as the 8th best city to live, work and do business in the UK, and is the UK City of Culture 2021 ! We believe this will help put Coventry on the map for all the right reasons. You can feel the sense of local pride throughout the city as we build towards this momentous year. It also offers a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to those joining us to play their part in it.

We genuinely believe that Coventry City Council is a special place. You will be joining Coventry City Council during an exciting time to become part of a team that contribute to achieving our visions for the city. We have made our council a place where we look after our people, making sure you're happy in your work and given everything you need to succeed. We've created friendly, welcoming workplaces where everyone is working towards the same cause, providing the best possible services for the city of Coventry.

As a council with improvement at its heart, we’re committed to making life better for the people who live and work in Coventry. We’re equally concerned with the quality of life enjoyed by our people, so by joining us, you won’t just be helping the community, you’ll be helping yourself too.

Not only do you get to work alongside great people that are helping to improve services for our community we offer great benefits too! For your valued contribution we will provide a fantastic benefits package including;

• Flexible working arrangements
• Generous annual leave allowance starting at 27 days and rising to 32 days
• Pay progression through multiple increments
• Outstanding local government pension scheme
• Learning & Development with access to certified courses.
• Access to an award winning Occupational Health Team
• Vibrant employee networks