Customer Service Advisor - Belfast

Location: Belfast

About the job:

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC. At HMRC we have a vital purpose. We help people pay the correct amount of tax and provide financial support to families and individuals. We make sure money is available to fund the UK’s public services such as hospitals and schools, answering around 50 million calls and handling 15 million items of customer correspondence every year. Our services support customers on behalf of the entire department, dealing with a broad range of different and complex customer enquiries. This is a great chance to start your career with HMRC and we offer real opportunities to progress and develop your career with us or the wider Civil Service if you choose. We’re striving to be the best customer service organisation in the UK, and we need enthusiastic people to help us achieve this.

Job description:

As a Customer Service Advisor at HMRC, you will be the first point of contact for our customers, providing essential advice and assistance, predominantly over the phone, or email and web chat. Your can-do attitude and passion for helping people will be key, as we fully train you to navigate various conversations and provide clear, quick information. We will invest in you by providing structured training, development opportunities, and a clear path for advancement.

You will be responsible for:

• Speaking to customers on the phone, helping them with their questions or issues.
• Helping customers to pay the correct amount of tax at the right time.
• Taking payments by phone and via our online services.
• Creating customer records and keeping them up to date.
• Using webchat and email to support our customers online.

If you are allocated to our Debt Management team your duties will also include:

• Discussing, calculating and collecting interest and penalties for late payments or late filing of tax returns.

We work a variety of shifts between 7:45am and 8pm, Monday to Saturday, to make sure we can help customers when they need us. You will work a maximum of one late shift per week (ending at 8pm) and a maximum of 6 Saturdays each year. HMRC is an office-based organisation, and colleagues are expected to spend 60% of their working time in the office. Our offices provide opportunity for interaction, collaboration which aids learning and development and a sense of community. The majority of roles within customer services allow you to work from home two days a week if you choose, averaged over a calendar month (or a proportionate amount of time for colleagues who work less than full time), this includes Saturday and 8 pm shifts. On the days you attend the office, you will be working in the Regional Centre location shown in the title heading of this advert that you are applying for. As a flexible employer, we will consider part-time requests. (Part-time is a minimum of 25 hours per week covering variety of shifts. All shift patterns, working days and hours will be discussed with your manager when you join us. Pay and annual leave will be pro-rata if we can agree your request).

During your induction training programme, which will last between 6 -12 weeks, you will be expected to work full time 37 hours per week and your working pattern will be Monday – Friday between 9.00am and 5.00pm. All training will take place in your designated Regional Centre and further details will be confirmed once you start your employment with HMRC. Time off or annual leave is not normally allowed during the first 6 weeks of training.

Person specification:

What are we looking for?

No experience is necessary as you will be fully trained, but we would like you to be comfortable talking on the phone and discussing debt with our customers. You will also need to be comfortable writing up notes, as this is mainly a phone-based role. We are looking for individuals with the drive and passion to make a difference to people’s lives, and need people:

• With great verbal and written communication skills in English (and Welsh where required).
• Dedicated to providing brilliant customer service.
• With a can-do attitude and passion for supporting people.
• With a resilience to work in a demanding and rewarding environment.
• With the ability to provide information quickly and clearly.
• Comfortable in handling various types of conversations.
• To have basic maths skills.

Behaviours:

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service.
• Delivering at Pace.
• Communicating and Influencing.

Benefits:

Alongside your salary of £28,016, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £8,116 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs. We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days. Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary. Family friendly policies. Personal support. Coaching and development.

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:

Please note that this role is unsuitable for contractual homeworkers due to the nature and/or requirements of the role. This role is not eligible for “skilled worker” sponsorship. The Home Office has specific rules around eligibility for sponsorship, including a minimum salary requirement of £41,700. In some cases, the minimum can be reduced to £33,400 (via “tradable points”) but this role pays below both amounts and therefore is not eligible.

Things you need to know:

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Selection process details:

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Ability. To help you prepare, below is a rundown of what to expect during the selection process:

• Eligibility form.
• Application form.
• Civil Service Customer Service Test.
• Video interview.

Eligibility & Application form:

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, or have withdrawn yourself in error and need your application reinstated whilst the campaign is still live, please contact us.

Civil Service Customer Service Test:

After submission of the first stage of your application, you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Customer Service Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application. Guidance and details on how to access the test will be given to you before you take it. Please allow yourself plenty of time to complete it, as there will be no technical help or guaranteed assistance after the deadline.

Video interview:

If you are invited to an interview, it will be a video interview, based on Civil Service Behaviours. We will send you full instructions on how to access it, what ID you’ll need to show us, and what it involves. Please read through these carefully, it will help you to be fully prepared.