Council Tax and Business Rates Recovery Officer in London

Salary range: Grade 7 £38,256 - £39,276 p.a. plus fantastic benefits

Contract: Permanent

Hours of work: 36 hours per week

Location: Croydon

Are you resilient enough to handle conflict, empathetic enough to spot vulnerability, and skilled enough to negotiate a solution that works for everyone? This isn't a back-office admin role. This is frontline financial justice.

We are looking for people with the right mindset, not just the right CV. If you have experience de-escalating tense situations (maybe in retail, hospitality, social care, or complaints), and you can stay calm and compassionate even in difficult situations, we want to talk to you.

The Reality of the Role

You will take calls from customers who are angry, distressed, or confused. You will need to stay calm when others are losing their temper. You will need to dig beneath the surface, asking the right questions to uncover the truth of someone's circumstances. You will negotiate sustainable payment plans that protect the council's income while giving residents a fair chance to clear their debt.

You don't need to know the legal intricacies of Council Tax legislation on day one. We will teach you that. But let's be upfront: this is a high-pressure, customer-facing role. You will deal with conflict, distress, and resistance every single day. We don't shy away from that reality.

What we offer in return is investment in you. We will train you thoroughly on the legislation and systems, so you feel confident and competent. We will support your wellbeing and give you the autonomy to make decisions. But we are looking for someone who already has the core foundations: resilience, empathy, and a cool head under pressure. Those are the things we expect you to bring. We provide the technical toolkit; you provide the human skills to use it effectively.

What You'll Actually Do

• Solve Puzzles: Every case is different. You'll investigate accounts, spot discrepancies, and determine the right recovery action. You'll have the autonomy to decide when to be flexible and when to enforce strict recovery action, always balancing firmness with fairness.
• Negotiate: You'll speak with customers over the phone, via email, and face-to-face to agree on sustainable payment arrangements.
• Handle Pressure: You will assist at Magistrates' Court hearings and manage post-liability order cases (attachments of earnings and benefits). You need to be comfortable with formal, high-stakes environments.

Who We Are Looking For

• You are resilient: You don't take verbal conflict personally. You stay calm under pressure, juggle multiple priorities without getting flustered, and handle rejection or hostility without it ruining your day.
• You are empathetic but firm: You can spot when someone is genuinely vulnerable and needs signposting to support services (like CAB or Mind), but you aren't easily manipulated by sob stories.
• You are curious: You ask "why" and "how" to get to the bottom of a case, rather than just accepting the first answer you are given.
• You have a strong moral compass: You understand that debt recovery isn't black and white. You can balance the council's need to collect revenue with a genuine desire to treat people fairly, especially those facing genuine hardship.

We aren't hung up on local government experience. We want to see:

• Proven experience in a customer-facing role where you've had to handle conflict, manage difficult conversations, or de-escalate tense situations. This could be in retail, hospitality, social care, housing, complaints handling, or any role where you've dealt with the public under pressure.
• Experience making sound decisions independently, particularly when there was no script to follow and you had to use your own judgement.
• Experience managing multiple priorities, whether that's juggling a busy shop floor, handling a restaurant full of diners, or managing a caseload of customer queries.
• A track record of staying calm and professional when faced with hostility, distress, or high-pressure situations.

The Bottom Line

If you are looking for a quiet, easy desk job, this isn't for you. But if you want a role where your communication skills, resilience, and emotional intelligence are valued as much as your technical knowledge, and where you genuinely help people while protecting public money, we want to hear from you.

Croydon Council is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Subject to business needs, we will be pleased to consider applications from candidates seeking flexible working arrangements and support hybrid working, whereby staff attend the workplace for part of their working week and work from home, or elsewhere, remotely for the rest of the time.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the advertised role. Croydon council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. The Successful candidate will be subject to a DBS check, if the role requires one.