Customer Relations Officer

You will be a member of a busy front-line team providing help and support to customers at the Housing Office by phone and in-person. The role includes:

• Taking payments for all PCC departments both in person and over the phone.


• Answering incoming calls from housing tenants and stakeholders and directing them to the appropriate teams.


• Helping tenants with some rent and housing management queries.


• Management of an area of garages and insurance accounts in line with Local Authority Housing Policies and Processes.


• Understanding the purpose of each service offered by Local Authority Housing and using systems thinking principles when making decisions.


• Knowledge of the repair policy to manage resident enquiries, linking in with the Repair Support Team where necessary.


• Undertaking various administrative duties including the management of tenancy files in line with our corporate retention policies.


• Supporting Housing Officers with demand by updating systems with data and information.


• Increase Portsmouth City Council's revenue through debt management of various housing related accounts.
  
  1. Have current customer service experience preferably through dealing with members of the public by telephone and in-person.

2. Have good communication skills and the ability to deal with a wide variety of customers. The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
3. Be well organised, able to prioritise tasks and manage your own workload
4. Able to work as part of a team to ensure a smooth delivery of the service and be flexible in being able to adapt to the needs of the team.
5. Be numerate and able to handle money accurately and have current cashiering experience.
6. Have a positive attitude towards work and actively work with your colleagues to improve the service offered to customers
7. Have experience using computers. Training will be given on the specific systems used in Housing.
8. Have an awareness and understanding of the Data Protection Policy as you will be dealing with confidential information.
9. Be able to work from any of the 7 area offices when required.

At Portsmouth City Council we are all about developing our staff, because we want to build a bigger and better city, but we need the best employees to do so.

With a little over 207,000 residents and 7,000 businesses throughout this city, this unitary authority's main goal is to ensure the best care and development of all those within the city. From customer service to multi-million pound projects, our residents are at the heart of everything we do.

The Service:

The housing service has 7 area housing offices across Portsmouth City and adjoining areas. The offices are the face of the council in these areas and provide customers with a one-stop-shop offering housing services and access to a full range of other council services.

As well as highly competitive pay you'll receive all the benefits of working within a local authority organisation, which ranges from flexible working hours to a fantastic pension which allows you the opportunity to pay in more for that greater return. We wish to support all our staffs development throughout, if that's progression planning or involvement within the on the job apprenticeship scheme we will work together to drive your career. For those with families we have child care benefits as well as discounts with local businesses which can be enjoyed by all., We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:

• A generous pension scheme


• Up to 31 days annual leave per year pro rata + bank holidays


• A range of retail discounts via our reward portal offering discounts at retailers including IKEA, Currys, Tesco


• Free Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellbeing support


• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships


• Potential to purchase additional annual leave


• Business travel support and initiatives, including bike loans