Financial Assessment Officer

Cheshire West and Chester Council is a place where everyone can Thrive - through our core values of Teamwork, Honesty, Respect, Innovation, Value for Money and Empowerment.

We are looking to recruit:

• 0.92 FTE, permanent Financial Assessment Officer who will be primarily a home-worker, with the need to attend The Portal, Ellesmere Port once a week.

An excellent opportunity has arisen to join our well-established Client Finance Team as a Financial Assessment Officer. We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented individual to carry out accurate and timely financial assessments for Adult Social Care customers, in line with legislation, policy, and council procedures.

You will provide high-quality customer service, responding to enquiries by phone, in writing, in person, or during home visits. You will also support colleagues and teams across the Council to ensure customers receive timely and fair assessments and clear information in relation to charges for social care services.

In this role, you will:

• Complete means-tested financial assessments for Adult Social Care services in accordance with procedures and legislation.
• Collect, verify, and record customer financial information, including disability-related expenditure.
• Provide accurate welfare benefits advice to ensure customers receive all income they are entitled to.
• Maintain accurate records using council systems, ensuring compliance with Data Protection and security standards.
• Support and mentor colleagues where needed.
• Liaise effectively with internal and external partners including Social Care teams, Legal Services, DWP, Council Tax, Debt Recovery and Corporate Fraud teams.
• Identify and refer cases of potential fraud or financial mismanagement.

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• Strong knowledge of benefits, financial assessments for care services, or experience processing means-tested claims.
• Excellent communication skills, including supporting vulnerable customers.
• Strong numeracy skills and ability to calculate benefit entitlement and care charges.
• Confidence using IT systems and maintaining accurate records.
• A positive, methodical, and customer-focused approach.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and work well as part of a team.

Relevant qualifications such as GCSEs (including English and Maths) and evidence of continued development are essential. Knowledge of systems such as LiquidLogic or Controcc is desirable but not essential.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy as soon as we have received enough applications for the role, therefore we encourage you to make your application without delay.

For an informal discussion, please contact:

• Theresa Thorpe, Senior Officer - theresa.thorpe at Cheshire West and Chester.gov.uk
• Rebecca Wood, Team Leader - rebecca.wood at Cheshire West and Chester.gov.uk