Benefits Officer

Benefits Officer - 37 hours per week

Our Story:

Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring two iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as close proximity to both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester Airports.

Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It’s an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services.

We are immensely proud that when asked what’s great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been ‘our colleagues’. 

Our Team:

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Benefits Team. 

The Benefits Team pays housing benefit and council tax reduction to over 12,000 residents in the borough and is responsible for the processing of Housing Benefit/Council Tax Reduction applications. 

This must done in accordance with the regulations and procedures that are in place and they must be completed accurately in a timely manner. 

The main purpose of the Benefit officer role is to undertake work concerning Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction, and to ensure that the Benefits computer databases is accurately maintained at all times.   

We are looking to recruit a full-time Benefit Officer to support this work; the post is based in our Widnes Stadium office with a hybrid working arrangement.

Your Contributions:

• Excellent customer service skills - The ability to communicate in a professional manner with the public, on the phone, face to face and in writing. 
• Experience of data processing
• Have the ability to work as a team and on your own initiative. 
• You must be able to make decisions in accordance with set policies and procedures. 
• Educated to GCSE standard (or equivalent) including Maths and English
• Awareness of maintaining confidentiality in the course of the role

Our Offer:

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service
• Membership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions
• 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme
• Investment in your personal development 
• Free Car Parking at HBC sites 
• Flexible working arrangements 
• Car leasing schemes

Next Steps:

At Halton Borough Council, we want all of our candidates to feel well-informed so if you would like to have an informal chat about this role, please contact Gary Tootle on 0151 5118781 or Geoff Tan 0151 5118758

At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you – resourcing@halton.gov.uk

Please refer to the attached Job Profile for further information about the role and our values.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications. If you’re interested, please complete your application as early as possible.

We look forward to receiving your application!