Revenues and Benefits Policy and Support Officer

Sheffield is a city that is being noticed globally and has the potential to be the best city to live and work in, grow up and grow old in, and to start, grow and scale a business in. Sheffield City Council has recently developed a plan for 2024-28 that sets a clear and positive statement of what we want to achieve for our great city. Together we get things done. Our mission is clear. We want to work with the people of Sheffield, other public services, business and key partners in the city to achieve our city goals.

We are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated Policy and Support Officer to join our Revenues and Benefits Policy and Support Team. You will report to the Assistant Policy and Support Manager and work within a small team with responsibility for the administration of the Housing Benefit Subsidy claim, the processing of claims for Housing Benefit (supported exempt accommodation) and administering applications for assistance from the Discretionary Housing Payment and Council Tax Hardship Schemes.

In your role, your key responsibilities will include:

1. Assist with annual external Housing Benefit audit through the completion of focused quality checks on Housing Benefit decisions.
2. Providing assistance to the Housing Benefit Subsidy Officer.
3. The processing of supported/exempt Housing Benefit claims.
4. The day-to-day administration of the Discretionary Housing Payments and Council Tax Hardship Schemes within allocated budgets.
5. Advising customers and stakeholders on the nature of these schemes and responding to queries regarding potential entitlement and any awards made.
6. Assisting in the completion of statutory returns.

For this role you will need a range of skills and experience including:

1. Experience of working in a Housing Benefit team making decisions on claims for Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support or Discretionary Housing Payment schemes.
2. An understanding of the Housing Benefit regulations.
3. Experience of working with Housing Benefit processing systems.
4. A customer focused approach.
5. Excellent I.T. skills including proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office 365 applications.
6. Effective team working and collaboration with colleagues.
7. Effective communication skills and an ability to explain information to a wide variety of audiences.
8. Good analytical and problem-solving skills.
9. Innovative thinking with the ability to generate new ideas and contribute to service improvements.

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to work as part of a team providing support to some of the Council’s most vulnerable residents. If you have the necessary skills, knowledge, and motivation to join us, we would love to hear from you.

The successful candidate will need to be highly motivated, with the ability to work unsupervised. There may be occasions when you are required to work outside of regular working hours. We operate a hybrid working model and our office is based at Howden House.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity, and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.

Under the Disability Confident Scheme, disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria of this job are guaranteed an interview.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.

Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part-time, or as a job share.