Finance Officer

Job Title: Finance Officer
Starting Salary: £31,537 opportunity to progress to £34,434 pro-rata for part-timeper annum (pro rata for part time)
Hours: 37
Location: Stevenage, Hybrid, 2 days in the office, 3 days at home (non-negotiable)

Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Adult Care Services

About the team

The Central Debt Team is responsible for the recovery of outstanding care charges for clients who have received Adult Care Services. This role plays a vital part in protecting public funds while ensuring clients are treated fairly, consistently, and with respect.

As a Finance Officer, you will work proactively with clients, their families, and representatives to explain care charges, request payment, agree repayment arrangements, and follow up outstanding debt in line with council policies and timescales.

You will be part of a supportive, professional, and high‑performing team with a strong focus on delivering results, good governance, and high‑quality customer service.

The role requires confidence and resilience. You will need to be assertive, clear, and professional when discussing sensitive financial matters, while also demonstrating empathy, patience, and good listening skills. You will regularly manage challenging conversations and must be comfortable setting expectations and escalating matters where necessary.

You will be committed to public service values, including fairness, accountability, transparency, and respect, and will understand the importance of balancing income recovery with compassion and safeguarding considerations.

You must be confident using IT systems, or able to learn new systems quickly, and have excellent written and verbal communication skills for telephone, email, and letter correspondence.

About the role

The role is very varied and incorporates the following:

• Manage a caseload of clients who have received Adult Care Services, ensuring accounts are progressed in a timely manner.
• Investigate client accounts to identify outstanding balances, credits, and required recovery actions.
• Recover outstanding care charges in line with council policies and procedures.
• Resolve client and stakeholder queries promptly and accurately.
• Communicate confidently and professionally with clients, families, and internal stakeholders by telephone and in writing.
• Monitor and review caseloads regularly to ensure effective debt recovery and good customer outcomes.
• Liaise with colleagues across Finance and Adult Care Services to achieve timely and appropriate resolutions.

The Central Debt Team is a supportive and motivated team where your work truly makes a difference.

The role is fast‑paced and varied, offering new challenges and learning opportunities every day. While you will handle complex accounts and sometimes difficult conversations, this is also a highly rewarding position where no two cases are the same.

You will play an important role in supporting individuals and families during sensitive circumstances, and we are looking for someone who shares our commitment to delivering a fair, professional, and compassionate service.

This is an interesting and evolving role that offers real opportunities to develop your skills, gain valuable experience, and progress within a local authority finance environment.

About you

Essential

• Experience of working in a financial team
• Strong communication skills, both verbally and written with the ability to establish strong relationships.
• Must be self-motivated and able to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Working as part of a team and individually
• Ability to influence and negotiate.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders.
• Experience in any kind of credit control.
• Competent with using Microsoft applications such as excel, word and Outlook
• Accurate and timely record keeping
• An understanding of financial processes and account reconciliations (not essential)
• Good time and diary management skills
• Good interpersonal skills are a must as we encourage you to challenge and contribute to the identification for service improvement and increased efficiency.

Desirable

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Outstanding organisational skills
• Knowledge of SAP, and other systems
• A good team player and be confident with their ability to produce the required results.

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is Level 8. Please locate the job profile here:

Job profiles: Business support services

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Rimona.Rattan1@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: to be confirmed

Benefits of working for us
How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.