Customer Services Officer Reception

In this role, you will provide high-quality support to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support claimants, helping customers access the information, guidance and assistance they need. You will play an important part in ensuring service levels and team targets are achieved, while delivering a courteous, efficient and supportive customer experience.
 

This is a varied role where you will manage your own workload, deal with customer queries, support face-to-face appointments, update case management systems and work closely with internal teams, external agencies and customers to help resolve enquiries effectively.
 

Responsibilities

• Managing your individual workload to ensure targets and team objectives are met.

• Providing a high standard of customer care, dealing with customers in a courteous and professional manner.

• Updating relevant systems, including Academy/EDMS notes, clearly and accurately.

• Completing daily work on EG for performance management purposes.

• Interrogating appropriate systems and contacting back-office teams or external agencies where required.

• Providing support through customer drop-ins, appointments and alternative locations, such as DWP offices.

• Supporting customers using self-service facilities and providing a fast-track scanning and document drop-off service.

• Offering general advice on Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support, other welfare benefits and potential Universal Credit entitlement.

• Supporting outbound calling activity to respond to customer queries and provide assistance as an alternative to a home visit.

• Providing support to the Visiting Service where required, including helping customers complete claims, gather information and understand entitlement.

• Ensuring information provided by customers meets relevant legislation, council policies and established procedures.

• Supporting back-office activity where required, with full training provided.

• Raising any issues with the Reception Manager in a timely manner.

• Completing mandatory training and assessments.

• Undertaking any other duties as required.
   

About You

• Strong customer service skills, with the ability to deal with a range of customer queries professionally.

• Good communication skills, both written and verbal.

• The ability to work accurately when updating systems and recording case notes.

• A proactive and organised approach to managing workloads and meeting targets.

• Confidence working with internal teams, external agencies and customers.

• The ability to handle sensitive information appropriately and follow established policies, procedures and legislation.

• A supportive and empathetic approach when dealing with customers who may require additional guidance or assistance.

• Willingness to complete training and develop knowledge of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support, welfare benefits and related processes.
   

About Capita Local Government
Capita Local Government has many close, long-standing relationships with local councils, supporting them in the challenges they face by delivering a variety of services. We know that technology can help transform public services and to do that requires investment and innovation – and we’re working to develop new approaches here.

What’s in it for you?

• A competitive basic salary (£28,860)

• 23 days’ holiday (rising to 27) with the opportunity to buy extra leave

• The opportunity to take a paid day out of the office, volunteering for our charity partners or a cause of your choice

• Auto-enrolment to our company pension, life assurance, a cycle2work scheme, 15 weeks’ fully paid maternity, adoption and shared parental leave, paternity pay of two weeks…and plenty more

• Voluntary benefits designed to suit your lifestyle – from discounts on retail and socialising, to health & wellbeing, travel and technology

• Access to our Employee Network Groups, which represent every strand of diversity and allow colleagues to connect and learn from each other on an open, inclusive platform

Unlock Your Potential with Capita

At Capita, your career can take you wherever your ambition leads. You'll become part of a diverse network of talented, forward-thinking professionals working across a wide range of disciplines and sectors. We’re committed to your growth — offering endless opportunities to expand your skills, explore new paths, and advance your career.
 

Join us and discover a career with purpose. #CareersWithPurpose

🤝 Customer first, always​🧑‍ Fearless innovation​✅ Achieve together​ Everyone is valued

What we hope you’ll do next:

Choose ‘Apply now’ to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you.

Equal Opportunities

At Capita, we’re committed to providing an inclusive, barrier-free recruitment process and working environment for everyone. We want everyone to have the best chance of succeeding as they move through their application and start their career with us. We are an equal opportunity and Disability Confident employer; we want to hear from you if you’d like to discuss any adjustments you might need during your recruitment process. Please email [email protected] or call 07784 237318 and we’ll get back to you to discuss. 
For more information about equal opportunities and the types of adjustments we can offer, please visit the Capita Careers website.

If you have a question that does not relate to adjustments during your recruitment process, please email our Talent Acquisition team - [email protected]

AI & Fair Recruitment at Capita
At Capita, we use technology, including AI-enabled tools, to help us manage applications consistently and fairly. These tools support our recruitment teams, they do not make hiring decisions. Every application is reviewed by a trained member of our Talent Acquisition team, and all decisions are made by people. If you need any adjustments during the process, we’re here to support you.

How We Use AI in Our Hiring Process
To help us deliver a fair, consistent and efficient recruitment experience, Capita uses AI-assisted technology at some stages of the process. These tools simply help us organise and assess information, they do not replace human judgement. All decisions are made by our recruitment team and hiring managers. If you have any questions or need adjustments, please let us know and we’ll be happy to support you.