Business Rates Officer

Working on behalf of a Local Authority, Aatom Recruitment has an opportunity for a Business Rates Officer on a 3 month’s contract with a possibility of an extension.

Job Purpose.

To provide a professional, proactive, customer focussed service to maximise revenue for the organisation, through the assertive administration, collection and advanced recovery of Business Rates and BID levies, which will focus the service in meeting their statutory and legal obligations and Camden Plan objectives, whilst maximising collection and recovery of the aforementioned charges.

Main Accountabilities.

• To manage a working group consisting of approximately 2000 NDR accounts, plus any associated BID accounts through the billing, collection and recovery process. Must ensure statutory compliance to both the Recovery Policy and Camden Plan. This will involve the Officer responding to written correspondence and taking telephone calls, which requires them to have both good numeracy and grammatical skills and be logged on to our telephone system daily.
• To attend and represent the Council at both the Magistrates Court and High Court on a regular basis. This will involve negotiating payment arrangements with challenging customers and giving evidence under oath where required. High Court attendance is also required for any case referrals as an expert witness, with specialised technical knowledge.
• To carry out changes to rateable values as advised by the valuation office and perform reconciliation of the rateable values and addresses with the reports provided by the valuation office, planning and the land and property gazetteer.
• Identify and progress appropriate recovery action against customers all the way through the recovery process using overdue lists and case referrals. Allocate Enforcement Agent (EAs) payments, advising EAs of direct payments and account amendments. Set and monitor SPARS (payment arrangements) and progress caseloads through to bankruptcy/liquidation route. Be able to manage insolvency caseloads in liaison with the Council’s appointed practitioners and insolvency solicitors, by also identifying and making case referrals.
• Be the sole contact for a designated BID area from within the Borough. Providing support and information on invoicing, recovery cycles, disputes and payments in accordance with the terms of the Operating agreement in place.
• Provide support to Business Rates Inspectors in terms of administration, such as contacting customers about visits, writing completion notices, Charitable Inspections, Section 44a notices, and providing Health and Safety backup where required

Knowledge, Skills and Experience.

• IRRV Qualified or previous technical experience gained from having worked in a local revenues customer focused environment.
• Excellent levels of literacy and numeracy.
• Excellent knowledge and application of IT systems and software packages.
• Ability to work with minimum supervision, using problem solving skills and initiative to provide a customer focussed support service.
• Experience of writing detailed witness statements and complex letters, e.g. drafting stage-one complaints;
• Ability to act as an expert witness at either the High Court, a Valuation Tribunal or at the Magistrates’ Court
• Ability to work flexibly, balancing competing priorities and meeting deadlines whilst understanding the needs, timescales and deadlines of others.
• Ability to deal diplomatically and confidentially with a wider range of stakeholders both internally and externally
• Ability to identify improvements to processes and systems and to share the recommendations with the wider team.

To get more information about this role and how to apply please contact Anisha 07876556434