Assistant Recovery Officer

Gwynedd Council offers an attractive employment package. Gwynedd Council operates internally through the medium of Welsh and offers all its services bilingually. The applicant will be required to reach the linguistic level noted as one of the essential skills in the Person Specification. We encourage everyone who applies for a job with Gwynedd Council to submit job applications in Welsh or bilingually.

CLOSING DATE: 10:00 AM, 08/05/2026

Person Specification

• Personal attributes (Essential): Confident, conscientious and the ability to prioritise work in order to meet specific deadlines. Able to communicate effectively and discuss tax and recovery activities with officers, the public, elected members, and external establishments. Be able to accept responsibilities and deal with a range of complex and contentious matters.
• Personal attributes (Desirable): Seek opportunities for professional development. Willingness and perseverance in realising personal self-development.
• Qualifications and relevant training:

• Essential: Education up to GCSE level (to include Welsh, Mathematics and English) or equivalent qualification.
• Desirable: Evidence of continuous personal development in the field of taxes or recovery. A Level or equivalent. Degree or similar qualification. Professional Qualification.

• Essential: Experience of working in the field of taxes, recovery, or another relevant area to the post. Experience of dealing with challenging individuals.
• Desirable – Skills and specialist knowledge: Understanding of the law, procedures and local taxation matters. Good information technology skills. Strong communication skills. Thorough knowledge about the activities of local authorities.
• Desirable – Planning and carrying out supervised work: Including writing and producing reports.

• Listening and Speaking – Higher: Able to follow a conversation or discussion through the medium of Welsh and English on a professional level and discuss general day to day topics in the field in order to present information and express opinions. Able to give a pre-prepared presentation and respond to any comments and questions on it in Welsh or English.
• Reading and Understanding – Higher: Able to understand standard written Welsh and English; both formal and informal. Able to gather information from various sources such as letters, reports, articles through the medium of Welsh and English in order to fulfil the post.
• Writing – Higher: Present written information confidently by letter, more detailed and technical report formats, and respond to written requests conveying information, ideas and opinion in Welsh and English (help is available to check the work).

Job Description

Purpose of the post: Supervise and monitor the implementation of every aspect of the recovery process to ensure effective and efficient recovery in accordance with the unit's aim/objective. Ensure that the people of Gwynedd are at the centre of everything we do.

Main duties:

• To support the day-to-day work of the recovery service for all debts owed to the Council including council tax, non-domestic rates, business improvement districts, general debts and any other debts.
• General recovery duties in accordance with the requirement, but a specific responsibility for:

• Attending the magistrates' court with the manager/recovery officer to discuss options with the taxpayers/debtors so that a way forward can be found without having to conduct a hearing.
• Checking the content of arrears to be written off and present to the Head of Finance for consideration.
• Preparing a summons list and arrange for staff to check these before sending summons out.
• Preparing a list of the summons for court use.
• Dealing with enquiries and objections by the public to the Council's request before the Court date.
• Acting on debt orders, i.e. sending letters to taxpayers and their employers as relevant.
• Referring cases to the bailiff.
• Ensuring that wage/benefit deductions are processed correctly.
• Keeping cases sent to bailiff companies in order and reconciling them with the system.
• Working closely with CAB providing information to help them support taxpayers and act on CAB recommendations as regards to putting temporary arrangements in place for taxpayers having difficulty paying.
• Collaborating with the empty housing team in the Housing and Property Department for charging orders/bankruptcy requests from the legal unit or an external solicitors' company.
• Reconciling payments received, ensuring they reach the correct accounts.

Special circumstances: The post-holder will be expected to complete a successful DBS check. Due to the need for specific systematic information at different key periods during the financial year, the post holder will be expected to occasionally work unsociable hours.