Council Tax and Business Rates Recovery Team Manager

Job Description

Salary range: Grade 12 (£50,085 - £52,194p.a.) plus fantastic benefits
Contract: Permanent
Hours of work: 36 hours per week
Location: Croydon (Hybrid working available)

Job Title: Council Tax & Business Rates Recovery Team Manager

Reporting to: Revenues Recovery Service Manager

The Role

We are looking for a great manager first,someone with genuine enthusiasm, people skills, and the drive to build a high-performing team. Technical recovery knowledge is desirable, but we can teach that. What you bring is leadership, coaching, and positive energy for your team.

You will lead a team of Recovery Officers responsible for collecting Council Tax and Business Rates (circa £100m). Your focus will be on staff development, wellbeing, performance, and creating a culture where people want to do their best work.

What you’ll actually do:

• Lead, coach, and develop your team through regular 1-2-1s, feedback, and genuine support
• Own workload distribution, resource planning, and day-to-day operational decisions
• Foster team morale, tackle hybrid-working isolation, and prevent burnout
• Drive recovery performance, but through your team, not by doing it all yourself
• Work with the Revenues Recovery Service Manager on policy and strategic improvements

Who you are:

• You bring enthusiasm to work, it’s contagious and your team feels it
• You have proven experience managing people (not just processes)
• You know how to have difficult conversations, address underperformance, and also celebrate wins
• You’re resilient, emotionally intelligent, and proactive

• A background in debt recovery, council tax, or enforcement is helpful but not essential, we need your management skills first

Why join us?

• Genuine autonomy to improve processes and make decisions
• A supportive leadership team who values people over process

• The chance to build a team culture you can be proud of

In your supporting statement, we want to hear about:

• The human stuff. We will have already seen your CV. Tell us about a time you managed someone who was struggling, not with the work, but with themselves. What did you notice? What did you say? What happened next?
• The messy middle. Managing people isn't always motivational speeches and high-fives. Tell us about a difficult conversation you had to have with a team member. Be honest, how did you handle it, and what would you do differently now?
• The tiny detail. Read our advert again. Pick one sentence from it that made you think "that's exactly what I believe" and tell us why.

• The constraint. Write all of this in no more than 150 words. Use your own voice. We don't need a polished novel, we need the genuine you.

Closing Date: 5th July 2026

To view the Council Tax and Business Rates Recovery Team Manager role profile please click here.

About us

Croydon Council’s priorities

The Council balances its books, listens to residents, and delivers good sustainable services

• Get a grip on the finances and make the council financially sustainable
• Become a council which listens to, respects and works in partnership with Croydon’s diverse communities and businesses
• Strengthen collaboration and joint working with partner organisations and the voluntary, community and faith sectors
• Ensure good governance is embedded and adopt best practice
• Develop our workforce to deliver in a manner that respects the diversity of our communities

Key business plan outcomes:

• Croydon is a place of opportunity for business, earning and learning
• Children and young people in Croydon have the chance to thrive, learn and fulfil their potential
• Croydon is a cleaner, safer and healthier place, a borough we’re proud to call home
• People can lead healthier and independent lives for longer
• Croydon Council’s new ways of working

Equal Opportunities Statement

Croydon Council is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Subject to business needs, we will be pleased to consider applications from candidates seeking flexible working arrangements and support hybrid working, whereby staff attend the workplace for part of their working week and work from home, or elsewhere, remotely for the rest of the time.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the advertised role.

Croydon council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment.
The Successful candidate will be subject to a DBS check, if the role requires one.