Financial Assessment Officer

Human Resources & Development - Form 35a Version 16 - Issued February 2025 JOB DESCRIPTION AND PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT ▪ Job Title: Financial Assessment Officer ▪ Post Number: To be confirmed ▪ Grade and SCP: Grade 7; SCP 12 ▪ Directorate: People - Adult Services Commissioning and Governance Where your role fits at Shropshire Council At Shropshire our priority is to be a 'best value' authority that delivers, enables, and influences for Shropshire and its residents by: • Being financially stable and sustainable  • Having clear priorities and purpose  • Supporting and enabling our workforce to excel  Recognising the challenge across local government today.  This starts with our Improvement Plan to address immediate challenges, while ensuring a focus on the future and how the Council will need to look, feel, and operate to best serve the needs of the county and its residents, and being aware of changes in national policy.   Our Shropshire values: PROUD  • Partnerships   • Respect   • Opportunities   • Understanding   • can Do   Aim to unify the workforce, support transformation, improve trust, and build a modern, sustainable Council. As a member of the Financial Assessment Team within Adult Services, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. Overview of your role The Financial Assessment Officer plays a key role within the Financial Assessment Team, delivering a customer-focused service that supports the Council's priorities, values and commitment to continuous improvement. The purpose of the role is to ensure that   financial assessments for adult social care services are completed accurately, fairly and in line with relevant legislation, national guidance and Council policy, and that contributions are clearly explained to customers or their representatives. Working as part of a busy operational team, the post holder manages a caseload, maintains accurate records and engages effectively with customers, colleagues and partner organisations. The role requires a good understanding of financial assessment processes and the ability to make informed decisions, contributing to transparent, sustainable and high-quality service delivery across the Council. Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for? You will be: ▪ reporting to Kim Russon, Team Leader, Financial Assessment Team, who is in turn responsible for your health and safety, training and development. ▪ Responsible for completing within expected timescales all mandatory corporate and role specific training. Training requirements will be detailed in your corporate induction and Performance Development Review (PDR). Courses are accessed via the council Learning Management System via the Intranet. What will you be doing? ▪ To undertake the financial assessment of customers, for both residential and non-residential services and notification of contributions within agreed timescales ▪ To ensure that a customer-focused and professional service is provided at all times. To adhere to Shropshire Council customer care standards and communicate effectively, face-to-face, in writing or on the telephone. ▪ To maintain systems with the status of each assessment and the recording of any communication with the Customer or representative. ▪ To undertake appropriate contact with Customers, including by phone, email, letter and, where required or requested, personal visit. ▪ Create, develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues, customers and external contacts. ▪ Comply with safe systems of work in accordance with health and safety and welfare policies and procedures. ▪ To be responsible for promoting continuing personal and professional and/or vocational self-development through the development processes. The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. What we expect of you You will: ▪ adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile, ▪ act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire, ▪ meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the Personal Development Review Process, learn from experience and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council, ▪ work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives. ▪ meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which they achieve their objectives and carry out their work. ▪ A priority for the Council is the protection of vulnerable people, ensuring they are able to live as independently as possible. The post-holder will promote and engage with Council's responsibility to safeguard the welfare of children, young people and adults, and protect their right to be safe from harm. What are your conditions of Service The conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have been adopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. This is a hybrid role, requiring the post holder to attend Shropshire Council Headquarters when requested, alongside home working arrangements   Your post is subject to the following: ▪ The post is Permanent, for 37 hours per week, ▪ Normal office hours are 8:45am - 5pm Monday - Thursday and 8:45am - 4pm Friday with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. ▪ The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented within the specific work area. Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to those staff with five years local government service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of an employee's allowance (pro rota for part time staff) must be taken at Christmas for any potential Christmas closures. Employees who work in a building/service which is required to open over the Christmas period, the two days leave (pro rota) can be carried over into your next leave year but must be used by the end of March. The appointment is subject to one months' notice in writing on either side. The appointment is subject to six months' satisfactory probationary service during which time the notice period will be one week on either side. Smoking is not allowed in Council buildings, in Council vehicles or in any Council place of work. It is a condition of your appointment that you provide a suitable vehicle for the performance of your duties and that this is readily available for use during normal working hours. You are entitled to claim for reimbursement of the costs of travel on council business at the rate of 55 pence per mile. What pre-employment checks will we undertake? The appointment is subject to receipt of the following pre-employment checks; 1. Satisfactory employment references, 2. Medical report, 3. Evidence of the qualifications required for the post/listed on your application form, This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such all applicants who are appointed to this post will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed. This check will include details of cautions, reprimands or warnings as well as convictions and non-conviction information. Once appointed, the successful applicant(s) will also be required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure at pre-determined intervals during the course of their employment whilst in this post. Supplying false information or failing to disclose relevant information could be grounds for refusal and could amount to a criminal offence.