Customer Service Advisor - Portsmouth Portsmouth, South East England, England
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About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
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Location
About the job
Job summary
At HMRC we have a vital purpose. We help people pay their tax and provide financial support to families and individuals. We make sure money is available to fund the UK’s public services such as hospitals and schools, answering around 50 million calls and handling 15 million items of customer correspondence every year.
We’re striving to be the best customer service organisation in the UK, and we need enthusiastic people to help us achieve this.
Our services support customers on behalf of the entire department, dealing with a broad range of different and complex customer enquiries.
This is a great chance to start your career with HMRC and we offer real opportunities to progress and develop your career with us or the wider Civil Service if you choose.
Job description
Our Customer Service Advisors are the voice of HMRC, using their brilliant communications skills to give our customers the best possible experience.
Your primary role will be handling contact from customers effectively and efficiently across different lines of business.
You'll be the first point of contact for our customers, providing a first-rate service by telephone, email or webchat.
Your duties will depend on the line of business you join; however, all business areas expect your duties to include:
- speaking to customers on the phone, helping them with their questions or issues
- taking payments by phone, letter and our online services
- creating customer records and keeping them up to date
- using webchat and email to support our customers online
We work a variety of shifts between 7.45am and 8pm, Monday to Saturday, to make sure we can help customers when they need us.
You will work a maximum of one late shift per week (ending at 8pm) and a maximum of 6 Saturdays each year.
The majority of roles within customer services allow you to work from home two days a week if you choose, this includes Saturday and 8pm shifts.
As a flexible employer, we consider part-time requests, however we do require you to complete your training on a full-time basis, usually 6 weeks Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.
Please note that this role is unsuitable for contractual home workers due to the nature and requirements of the role.
You can find out more about what it’s like being a Customer Service Advisor at HMRC on the Civil Service Careers website.
Watch these videos to find out more about Customer Service roles at HMRC:
Our Professions – Customer Service Advisor at HMRC
Our Professions – Customer Services Group at HMRC
Our Customer Service Advisor role - all you need to know
Person specification
What are we looking for?
No experience is necessary as you will be fully trained, but we would like you to be comfortable talking on the phone and writing up notes as this is mainly a phone-based role.
We are looking for individuals with the drive and passion to make a difference to people’s lives, and need people:
- with great communication skills, both verbal and written in English language (and Welsh where required)
- dedicated to providing a brilliant customer service
- with a can-do attitude and a real passion for supporting people
- with the personal resilience to work in a demanding and rewarding environment
- able to provide information both quickly and clearly
- comfortable handling different types of conversations
- with an ability to do basic maths calculations
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Delivering at Pace
- Communicating and Influencing
Benefits
- Excellent training and career progression
- Competitive pensions
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
Team members that are moving offices as a result of the Locations Programme will be entitled to a Moves Adjustment Payment for three years where they incur additional costs. This is calculated based on the difference between the costs of travelling to and from the new and old office, over a weekly period. You will get more detail on this as part of targeted locations move communications.
Find more about HMRC benefits in 'Your little extras and big benefits handbook' for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
To help you prepare, below is a rundown of what to expect during the selection process:
- Eligibility form
- Application form
- Video interview
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form and candidate pack.
If you are invited to an interview it will be a video interview. We will send you full instructions on how to access it, what ID you’ll need to show us and what it involves. Please read through these carefully, it will help you to be fully prepared.
After you receive your interview invite, you’ll have 7 days to complete and submit the interview. If you are unable to do this in time, please contact us with your reasons before the deadline at [email protected]. Unfortunately, if you don't contact us in time your application will be withdrawn.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. The inbox to contact is: [email protected] - Use subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 264603 & vacancy closing date 13/02/2023.
Security Update
If you are successful and transferring from another Government Department, we will carry out a check of your identity, nationality, and immigration status (including the right to work in the UK) and a criminal record check before confirming your appointment.
Successful candidates must pass a Disclosure a Barring Security Check. Please note that HMRC have an exemption under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, which enables us to make enquiries about both unspent and spent convictions.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
HMRC transformation
HM Revenue and Customs is currently going through an exciting ten-year transformation programme to create a tax authority fit for the future. As part of this, we are committed to providing high-quality jobs and giving employees a great place to work, whichever location you work from.
HM Revenue and Customs has made significant progress with its plans to locate in 14 large, modern, flexible offices, equipped with high-speed digital infrastructure supporting improved customer service and compliance activity. These collaborative workspaces will enable smarter working and great training and development facilities, allowing for the sharing of expertise, local training, promotion, and provide great ongoing career development opportunities.
These offices will be located in central locations in the following towns and cities close to accessible transport links: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Croydon, Portsmouth and Stratford.
In addition, there will also be a small number of specialist sites where the work cannot be done anywhere else, in Gartcosh (near Glasgow), Telford, Ipswich, Worthing and Dover, as well as our headquarters in central London. What’s more, our Welsh language service has people located in Porthmadog, as well as Cardiff.
We are letting you know about our future plans because if you are recruited into an office that is not one of these locations, you will be expected, subject to HM Revenue and Customs applicable policies, to move to one of these locations in the future. In some cases, this will be via one of our nine transitional sites.
For more information please contact the vacancy holder.
Terms and Conditions
We really hope you decide to apply for this role. If you’re successful you need to know that in February 2021 members of recognised trade unions (ARC and PCS) voted to approve a pay and contract reform offer. This means that HMRC will adopt new terms and conditions for all colleagues as part of a multi-year pay deal and contract offer, the pay deal period is 01 June 2020 – 31st May 2023 and terms and conditions changes take place from the 01 June 2021 onwards. These terms will apply to colleagues who already work in HMRC and if you join us, it will apply to you too. We’ve put together a summary of the key changes that will be made and you can find this attached to the Job Advert.
Pay
If you are currently working for an OGD and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Pay on Transfer from OGD" for further information. (Please note the attached document could also be called “Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”)
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Further Information
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement this will be tested as part of the selection process.
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Any move to HMRC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility here.
HMRC welcomes applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, taking into account our operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:
Please note that this role is unsuitable for contractual homeworkers due to the nature and/or requirements of the role.
Reasonable adjustment
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate. Please see our Disability Matters: How we can support you during our selection process booklet for more details.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
- Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
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