Salary Scale: £20,971.60 – £22,104.07 – ​£23,226.91 per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week.
Contract: Permanent
Holiday: 25 days annual leave + 2.5 days at Christmas + bank holidays + long term service leave accrual

About the role:

Citizens Advice Plymouth and Improving Lives Plymouth are working together in a joint contract with Plymouth City Council to provide a joined-up quality information and advice service across Plymouth, known as Advice Plymouth. The service provides Telephone, Drop in and Casework support. As part of the delivery of Advice Plymouth, a team of Assessors provide a range of support needed by people with a local focus.  

The Gateway Team are the first point of contact for members of the public contacting Citizens Advice Plymouth. The public can contact us for advice by telephone, digital or face to face options. An Assessor is there to establish what the client need is and plays a vital role in the client experience.

An Assessor must ensure that all relevant information is collected efficiently and accurately. We aim to progress the client’s enquiry as far as we possibly can on the initial contact and minimise the amount of contacts they need with us. This is achieved by completing in depth exploration and providing tailored information or advice based on the complexity of the issue and clients capability. This includes debt assessments and benefit checks. We aim to meet as much of our demand as we can through our telephone, email and webchat services both locally and nationally along with locally at our information centre where clients are supported face to face.

The role is 37 hours a week (9-5 Monday-Thursday and 9-4:30 on Fridays) on a permanent basis. 

We anticipate this role to start week commencing 16th January 2024, with interviews to be confirmed once we have completed shortlisting.

About you:

The successful candidates will need excellent customer service and IT skills in face to face, digital and telephone based environments and be confident in assessing complex issues and working with people facing various challenges through those three contact channels in order to meet the needs and demand of the service through our on-site information centre, telephone and digital services.

You will have the ability to manage and support others during times of crisis, be resilient and able to manage difficult and emotional conversations well. Good communication skills, both written and verbal, are essential, as is the ability to effectively communicate with our clients with a non-judgmental approach. 

You will be able to competently use a range of Office 365 programs and keep case recording systems up to date accurately while still communicating with your client accessing the service. You will also have excellent organisational skills to be able to prioritise your workload well to achieve performance-related objectives.

A willingness to attend training and be able work as part of a team, ensuring boundaries and confidentiality are always maintained. You should enjoy working as part of a busy, motivated and supportive team and be able to adapt well to changing priorities.   You will be flexible to support the service where needed at short notice to cover absence.

Knowledge of the enquiry areas we advise on or awareness of local and national organisations that can help people with issues relating to those enquiry areas would be a bonus.

We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination.  We encourage and welcome applications from suitably skilled candidates from all backgrounds.  We particularly welcome applications from candidates who are disabled, or people from Black, Asian and other racially minoritised backgrounds, as these people are currently underrepresented at Citizens Advice Plymouth. We also actively welcome applications from LGBTQ+ candidates. 

Work Base:

This role will be office based at Cobourg House, 32 Mayflower Street, Plymouth.

To apply for this vacancy:

1. For further information please download our application pack here

2. Completed applications should be returned to recruitment@citizensadviceplymouth.org.uk by 9am on 4th December 2023 .

3. Please let us know if you need us to adapt our application process so there are no barriers for you to apply.