Income Customer Care Agent

We’re looking for Customer Care Agents to join our busy Customer Hub team in Hull. You’ll play a key role in supporting our Income Services team, helping to maintain sustainable tenancies within a fast‑paced contact centre environment. You will be the first point of contact for our customers, delivering a strong customer‑focused service and supporting customers with their rent accounts. This will include collecting payments in full, negotiating repayment arrangements, answering income‑related queries, and working collaboratively with colleagues across Income Services to help customers avoid falling into debt. The role often involves engaging in sensitive, complex, or challenging conversations, particularly where customers are experiencing arrears or financial difficulty. You will be expected to approach these conversations with empathy, professionalism, and a solution‑focused mindset. Although this role can be challenging, it is also highly rewarding.

We are looking for candidates who share our passion for delivering the best possible service for our customers, demonstrate excellent communication skills, show a positive can‑do attitude, and are willing to learn and develop new skills within a supportive team environment.

The role of Income - Customer Care Agent will include:

• Driving effective arrears recovery and arrears prevention, delivering a consistent, high‑quality service that ensures customers receive timely, accurate support at the earliest possible stage to prevent escalation.
• Managing rent accounts proactively, including advising on balances, securing payments in full where possible, and negotiating affordable, sustainable repayment arrangements using strong debt‑negotiation and affordability assessment skills.
• Proactively managing unresolved arrears, clearly explaining account escalation processes, next steps, and the potential consequences of non‑payment, while ensuring customers are treated fairly and with transparency.
• Confidently handling challenging and sensitive conversations, using effective communication, de‑escalation, and conflict‑resolution techniques to support customers experiencing financial hardship or resistance to engagement.
• Supporting income maximisation, providing guidance on benefits, budgeting options, and signposting to specialist internal and external support services where appropriate.
• Building trust‑based, professional relationships with customers, balancing firmness on arrears with empathy, clarity, and a solutions‑focused approach.
• Identifying risks, vulnerabilities, or service gaps early, taking appropriate and timely action to protect tenancies and reduce arrears escalation.
• Maintaining accurate, timely, and detailed records, ensuring all actions and decisions are fully documented in line with Sanctuary’s policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.
• Working collaboratively within the Income Services team, contributing to the achievement of individual and team targets, KPIs, and SLA commitments.

Skills and experience:

• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to actively listen, demonstrate genuine empathy, and clearly explain complex or sensitive information to customers in rent arrears.
• Proven experience in Debt Recovery, Arrears Management, or Consumer Credit Control within a regulated environment; experience within social housing rent arrears or priority debt is highly desirable.
• Strong negotiation skills, with a demonstrated ability to agree sustainable and realistic repayment arrangements, taking into account individual circumstances, affordability, and vulnerability.
• A sound understanding of, or ability to quickly work within, a policy‑driven collections framework, with a strong focus on fair treatment, compliance, and responsible decision‑making.
• Confidence handling difficult and sensitive conversations, including supporting customers experiencing financial hardship, vulnerability, or resistance to engagement.
• Experience working in a contact centre or high‑volume customer‑facing environment, ideally involving inbound and outbound arrears, income, or collections activity.
• Resilience and strong conflict‑management skills, with the ability to remain calm, professional, and solution‑focused in pressurised situations.
• A clear customer‑care ethos, balancing effective income recovery with tenancy sustainment, safeguarding, and positive customer outcomes.
• Experience using housing or income management systems (such as SAP or similar housing management platforms) is advantageous.
• Knowledge of or experience in social housing, tenancy management, rent accounting, or income services is advantageous.
• Basic to intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook, with confidence using systems as part of a fast‑paced role.

Why work for us? We are a not-for-profit housing association, and own and manage around 125,000 homes. We foster a diverse and inclusive culture, and nurture and reward talent. Our customers are at the heart of all we do, and colleagues help make a real difference to people’s lives. As part of our commitment to making Sanctuary a great place to work, where your wellbeing is of genuine importance, we have developed an attractive employment package. The package recognises your contribution, supports your physical, mental and financial health and gives you the flexibility to tailor your employee benefits by offering:

• 25 days annual leave (rising to a maximum of 30 days) plus public holidays.
• A pension scheme with employer contributions from Sanctuary.
• Life Assurance.
• Employee Advice Service including counselling.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Voluntary health plans.
• Wellbeing support and tools.
• Staff Networks, with a shared interest in inclusion, and who provide invaluable support to colleagues.

Role salary is £30,130 (rising to £31,716 after 12 months, subject to satisfactory performance).