About the job

Job summary

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.

   

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.

About HMRC

At HMRC we are committed to creating a wonderful place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you. Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.

Candidates who wish to work an alternative working pattern are welcome to apply. The preferred working pattern may or may not be available and will be considered in line with business need.

Any request for work an alternative working pattern should be discussed with the vacancy holder following the selection process.

Job description

About the Role - What you will do!

With the option of your own company car (flexible schemes available) you will spring into action in a professional, ethical, fair and balanced way of collecting outstanding debt.

•   We need 22 Debt Collection Officers, who can work independently and part of a wider geographical Collection team.

•   We will be appointing on Merit order based around your geographical location. 

• Working within local areas near you and potentially working further afield to cover different geographical locations and operational requirements. (for example, those candidates applying for Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester posts, there will be an expectation to cover the Midlands depending on operational demands).

 We will work with you on this and the below are the locations we want you to help us bolster: -

Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bexley, Brighton, Dartford, Dundee, Central London, Chelmsford, Cumbria, Lake District, Enfield, Falmouth, Plymouth, Gloucester, Harrow, Gravesend, Hemel Hempstead, Ilford, Kingstone Upon Thames, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester, Newport, Norwich, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Romford, Sheffield, South Croydon, Southwest London, Southampton, Southend, Southwark, Swindon, Teeside, Wakefield, Walsall, Watford, Wigan, Bolton, Wolverhampton, Uxbridge.  

If applying for posts attached to Stratford/Croydon Regional Centres due to the nature of the role you may not qualify for London Pay as successful candidates may be attached to Teams who do not cover London Pay areas.

Please contact the vacancy holder for any questions on London Pay.

You will have a full mobile kit including laptop, card payment machine, mobile phone, and thermal printer to enable you to carry out your role on the road.

You will also be provided with a lone worker Health & Safety device.

Want to speak to other debt collectors in our team and learn about the role and how to apply?

Register for 1 of 2 free recorded Teams Webinars running for 1 hour each session.

Interest does not guarantee invite.

Capacity is limited but video recorded session can be emailed out at request.

1st Session Thursday 1st August 3pm till 4pm

2nd Session Tuesday 6th August 10am till 11am

Register interest here for the sessions by putting “Recruitment Session 1” or "Recruitment Session 2” in the subject line and emailing SM4983252@hmrc.gov.uk to register.

Registration closes Monday 5th August 11:55pm

If you have any further questions please contact Steve Condon on 03000 577185 or steve.condon@hmrc.gov.uk

• This is an exciting time to join a modern digital Field Collections Team which is part of HMRC Debt Management whose core purpose is to collect money to fund UK public services. Field Collections are responsible for pursuit and collection of overdue Taxes.

• You will interact with people from all walks of life including, Company Directors, Sole Proprietors and Partnerships to secure HMRC debts. Recording their assets/ under  the 'Taking Control of Goods legislation' or warning of legal proceedings under 'Summary Warrants' in Scotland.

• Travelling solo to various external customer premises, gathering information to make well balanced decisions. We will support your development in this role with a full in-depth 6-week training course which is provided with ongoing 121 peer support.

As a Debt Collections Officer, you will demonstrate a specific skill set that enables you to:

• Methodically plan and manage your diary for weekly visit activity.
• Question to obtain and analyse information.
• Assess the financial position, the value of assets, and make considered decisions
• Decide effective progression if full payment cannot be secured – Enforcement / Time To Pay.

So, if you like a challenge and travelling.

Have strong interpersonal skills, are driven and adaptable.

You are hardworking and would enjoy working for a team that constantly evolves and innovates, this is the job for you.

Read on!

Person specification

About You - What we need!

•  An influential officer of the Debt Collections Team. We need an organisational, communication and negotiations aficionado. Being an empathic Civil Servant when needed and an authoritative assured and confident debt collection officer and challenger when needed to be. Operating a fair approach in your dealings with members of the public and external customers.

•  Be part of a large and extremely engaged nationwide team who, are inclusive, flexible, adaptable, and creative in solving problems and dealing with change. Promoting each other's development.

•  You take customer service, etiquette, fairness seriously and demonstrate it professionally. On the road, in your car and out in public you are an ambassador to HMRC and proud to be so. A self-motivated person who is always looking to develop their craft.

•  Using your new or updated learned library of knowledge to remind customers of the laws, acts and legislations such as the 'Taking Control of goods' (In England and Wales). Summary Warrant (Scotland) Actions, Time to Pay requests being flexible, confident and interpersonal at all times.

•  Fully using available digital platforms, thinking in an objective and analytical manner with an inquisitive and open mind. Using good judgement to make decisions to enable you to progress each case and deal with associated queries.

•  Field Collections operates flexibly to improve contact with the customer and 90% of the working day is spent “on the road”  calling at premises unannounced. Sometimes after an overnight stay nearby in a hotel.

Essential Criteria

•  Demonstrable experience of diary management in a field-based role where information has to be captured with communication skills, negotiations and influencing with successful outcomes.

•  Showing flexibility and delivering a great customer experience with internal and external exposure across many levels of seniority.

•  Adapting to change last minute with experience of delivering at pace and within tight timescales and pressurised situations and environments.
•  How do you influence others through your work and the information and data you capture to prove and provide evidence?  
•  Hold a Full UK Driving Licence

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,341, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £7,652 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

How to Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• A 1000-word personal statement.

Your 1000 word Personal Statement should provide in the STAR (Situation, Task, Actions, Results) Method an example to include the Essential Criteria. You will be scored on this.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Sift

A sift will be carried out on your Personal Statement, with successful candidates being invited to interview.

Interview

During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed, and you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of, and you will be asked strength-based questions to also explore what you enjoy and your motivations relevant to the job role. 

This is an example of a strengths-based question: 

“It is often said that the customer's needs should come first. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?” 

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well. 

Interviews will take place via video link.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Eligibility

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, please contact us via: ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Merit List

After interview, merit lists will be created for each location advertised within the vacancy. If you are successful at interview, you will be placed on the merit list for any locations you have expressed an interest for. Appointments from each merit list will be made in strict merit order.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

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.

Terms and Conditions

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process. 

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.