Purpose of the post
•Ensure that the people of Gwynedd are at the centre of everything we do.
•We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive person to join our Customer Contact team, to provide information and advice on a broad range of Council Services to our customers, by using multi-channel support systems and ensuring that the people of Gwynedd are central to everything we do.
•As well as the above, the post holder will undertake some of the duties of the Registration Service in the fields of Births, Deaths, Stillbirths and associated duties. Receiving notices of marriages / civil partnerships and processing applications for certificates accurately and effectively and collecting the appropriate fees.
Responsibility for functions
•Registration Stock (the high value of blank certificates makes them an attractive target for theft)
•Cash
•Banking arrangements
Main duties
LEVEL 1 - dealing with general reception enquiries, switchboard enquiries and creating recycling centre appointments.
•Deal with internal and external customers, face to face (reception enquiries), over the phone (switchboard calls and creating appointments in our CRM system), electronically or through any other source that is used within our Customer Contact Centres.
•Move from one field of work to another regularly and prioritise customer enquiries promptly and accurately (e.g. dealing with phone calls and proceeding immediately to deal with a reception enquiry at the same time, or complete administrative work and proceed immediately to deal with a customer, regularly during the day).
•Provide a high quality customer service by dealing with correspondence, telephone enquiries and people who drop-in, as appropriate.
•Responsible for receiving customer forms and personal documents, making photocopies, scanning and checking documents as required for the customer's request.
•Refer customers to other departments or agencies when appropriate.
•Receive feedback from customers.
•Provide support for customers who make enquiries / request services over the internet.
•Implement the procedure of interviewing passport applicants by dealing with e-mails/fax messages from the Passport Service.
•Welcome passport appointment applicants, prepare the room for interviews and link the video-call.
•Contact the Passport Service prior to and following the interviews, following the Home Office's security arrangements.
•Receive parcels and letters that arrive separately to Royal Mail and record them and arrange for them to be collected by the relevant services.
•Hand-out and receive keys associated with Council buildings for maintenance work purposes, etc. Sign and retain documents following maintenance work on behalf of the Property Unit.
•Ensure that customers follow the workplace Health and Safety rules, Fire policy and that they sign in and out of the building as expected.
•LEVEL 2
•Receive payments from customers face-to-face (receive cash and process card payments), over the phone (process card payments), advise customers on how to complete on-line payments.
•Follow the council's procedures on how to deal with money and ensure compliance with banking arrangements.
•Deal with and resolve customer enquiries by giving advice on the following processes: planning processes, highways and municipal enquiries, parking, elections, pest control, 16+ passes, registration of births, deaths, ceremonies and blue badge applications.
•Use a number of the Council's computer systems in order to deal with customer enquiries, create appointments for customers as needed.
•Deal with the complaints / concerns of customers and bring complaints or complex enquiries to the attention of relevant officers within the relevant Services.
•Support new staff by sharing experiences, assisting, shadowing and developing their skills in our work fields.
•LEVEL 3
•Act as a "front door" for the Council Tax / Benefits Service by dealing face-to-face with customer enquiries in these fields.
•Receive training by the training officer in the Taxation/Benefits Service in order to carry out the responsibilities of the post
•Compliance with the content of the service level agreement.
•Provide advice and information about the rights of the customer in the fields of Council Tax / Benefits and refer complex enquiries (which are likely to take more than half an hour to resolve), forward to specialist officers within the Taxation/Benefits Service.
•LEVEL 5
•Carry out level 1 to 3 duties as well as:
•Carry out the role of Registrar by registering births, deaths, stillbirths and associated duties. Receive notices of marriages / civil partnerships and process applications for certificates accurately and effectively and collect the appropriate fees/
•It will be expected for the post holder to possess full knowledge of the Births and Deaths Act 1953, Marriage Act 1949 and register events in accordance with the regulations of these acts, by following the guidance in their handbooks. A Registrar will be appointed as RBD / DRBD - Registrar of Births & Deaths in order to achieve the purpose.
•Have the latest information about the regulations of the General Register Office's Registration Handbooks, circulars and other instructions as well as the Council's procedures by regularly checking information on the General Register Office's website.
•Have detailed information about the immigration status of individuals applying to marry, and report any suspicions about the right of couples to marry by raising a section 24 notice, and inform the Home Office of their concerns in order to obtain a decision about the right to get married.
•The high value of blank certificates make them an attractive target for theft and registration officers are required to be actively involved in ensuring that the certificates are kept safe.
•Ensure that the stock is kept securely and dealt with carefully. Keep a record of current stock and historical stock in accordance with the procedures of the General Register Office.
•Assist the Superintendent Registrar to carry out SR checks (i.e. check the accuracy of colleagues' work and bringing any deficiencies to the attention of the relevant member of staff as well as the Superintendent Registrar).
•Contact external officers, e.g. Doctors, Coroner's Service during appointments, in order to check the validity of information, Medical Examiners’ Office
•Contact GRO during appointments, when unclear information is presented by the customer.
•Use the RON computer system to register events
•Fulfil any other duties corresponding to the scale of the post.
•LEVEL 6
•Carry out level 1, 2, 3 and 5 duties as well as:
•Act as post holder i.e. the person designated as responsible for all the Registration stock in their care.
•Responsible for ensuring that staff who use stock follow the good practice guidelines of the General Register Office, and comply with the stock and security of the General Register Office.
•Accountable that any officer using the stock verifies it and uses it in order.
•Is responsible for ordering, checking and receiving stock annually in accordance with the guidelines of the General Register Office and ensure that there is sufficient stock for the coming year (stock can only be ordered once a year).
•Accountable for the stock and verifying that the stock being sent by the General Registration Office is accurate and in order
•The post-holder will be expected to complete a successful DBS.
•Fulfil any other duties corresponding to the scale of the post.
•Responsible for self-development.
•Ensure compliance with Health and Safety regulations in the workplace in accordance with the responsibilities noted in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Council’s Health and Safety Policy.
•Operate within the Council’s equal opportunities and equality policies.
•Be responsible for managing information in accordance with the Council’s information management standards and guidelines. Ensure that personal information is treated in accordance with Data Protection legislation.
•Commitment to reducing the Council’s carbon emissions in accordance with the Carbon Management Plan, and to encourage others to act positively towards reducing the Council’s carbon footprint.
•Undertake any other reasonable duty which corresponds to the salary level and responsibility level of the job.
•Responsible for reporting any concern or suspicion that a child or vulnerable adult is being abused.
Special circumstances
•Occasionally the post holder will be required to attend meetings outside normal working hours and to operate as part of a team responding to civil emergencies in accordance with the Council’s emergency plan.
•As the Council reconsiders extending service hours, this could affect the working hours of this post.
•The post-holder will need to possess a full driving licence and a car and to work in other locations within the County occasionally.