Revenues and benefits officers work for local councils and deal with rent and council tax, or housing and council tax benefits. 

Revenues officers usually:

• calculate rents, council tax and business rates
• send bills and issue reminders
• collect and process payments
• deal with enquiries face-to-face or by letter or telephone
• keep accurate clerical and computerised records
• deal with legal action when necessary.

Benefits officers usually:

• assess whether people are entitled to housing and council tax benefits
• check and processing claims forms
• make payments
• liaise with social services, housing associations and Department of Work and Pensions
• deal with enquiries face-to-face or by letter or telephone
• keep accurate clerical and computerised records
• deal with legal action when necessary. 

Some experienced revenues or benefits officers may work on housing valuations or benefit fraud investigations.

Hours and Environment

As a revenues or benefits officer you will usually work 35 to 37 hours a week, Monday to Friday. Part-time work, flexitime and job sharing may be available.

You will be based in an office, but you will also usually spend some of your time dealing with enquiries at a counter. In some jobs you may travel around your local area to visit claimants at home.

Skills and Interests

To be a local government revenues/benefits officer you should:

• have good spoken and written communication skills
• be tactful and able to deal sensitively with customers who are angry or upset
• be able to understand complex rules and explain them clearly to customers
• have good maths skills
• be computer literate
• work well as part of a team
• work accurately and pay attention to detail
• be able to analyse information and solve problems.

Entry

The qualifications you need can vary from employer to employer. Many local authorities ask for four or five GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3), usually including maths and English. Some councils may prefer you to have A levels/H grades or equivalent qualifications for some revenues officer jobs.

Employers will usually expect you to have computer skills, and previous experience of working in a team in an administrative, financial or customer service job.

Training

Your training will usually be a mixture of on-the-job learning with some formal courses in benefit rules and specialist computer software.

You can also work towards one or more qualifications from the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation (IRRV):

• IRRV Technician course
• NVQ/SVQ Level 3 in Housing and Council Tax Benefit
• NVQ/SVQ Level 3 in Local Taxation.

You must already be working in local authority revenues or benefits administration to take these qualifications. They lead to Technician membership of the IRRV.

If you want to progress into management jobs, you can also take the IRRV Full Professional Qualification Levels 1, 2 and 3. Before starting the Full Professional Qualification Level 1, you must already have either:

• IRRV Technician
• one of the IRRV level 3 NVQs/SVQs, or
• at least five years' experience in revenues or benefits administration.

You can study for the IRRV qualifications by work-based training and assessment, day release, block release or distance learning. See the IRRV website for more details.

Opportunities

As a revenues or benefits officer, you could work for a local council, or for one of the growing number of private companies that are contracted to provide benefits services to local councils.

Promotion prospects are good and you could become a team leader, department manager, or move into other local government finance jobs.

You could also move into the Department for Work and Pensions, or benefits advice work for the Citizens Advice Bureau or similar organisations.

Jobs are advertised in the local press, Jobcentre Plus, and on the LG Jobs website (see Further Information).

Annual Income

Figures are intended as a guideline only. Many councils have introduced performance related pay. 

New entrants may start on £13,000 to £15,000 a year.
Experienced officers can earn around £15,000 to £21,000.
Team leaders, fraud investigators and managers can earn between £20,000 and £30,000.

Further information

Rosebery House
9 Haymarket Terrace
Edinburgh
EH12 5XZ
Tel: 0131 474 9200
51 Gresham Street
London
EC2V 7HQ
Tel: 0845 257 3772
41 Doughty Street
London
WC1N 2LF
Tel: 020 7831 3505