Apprentice Income Collection Officer
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Stockton-On-Tees (TS17 6BJ)
Closes in 15 days (Sunday 7 December 2025)
Posted on 14 November 2025
Contents
Summary
At Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, we’re not just offering you an apprenticeship; we’re offering a launchpad for your future. We are a bold, brave, and innovative council working as one team, embracing diversity, delivering on our promises, striving for excellence, and putting our community at the heart of everything we do.
- Wage
-
£14,526.20 to £23,492.04, depending on your age
National Minimum Wage
- Training course
- Senior credit controller and debt collection specialist (level 3)
- Hours
-
Monday to Friday, working hours TBC.
37 hours a week
- Start date
-
Monday 19 January 2026
- Duration
-
1 year 8 months
- Positions available
-
1
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
- Undertake recovery and enforcement action to maximise the collection of monies owed to the council
- Contacting customers, making suitable payment arrangements, and implementing deductions from benefits/earnings
- Work with offices across the council to aid income collection
Where you'll work
Dunedin House
Columbia Drive, Thornaby
Stockton-On-Tees
TS17 6BJ
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
CSA (SERVICES) LTD
Training course
Senior credit controller and debt collection specialist (level 3)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Engage with stakeholders on accounts, for example to resolve issues, leverage payment, support business growth.
- Negotiate good credit management or debt collection outcomes, in line with organisational policies.
- Use questioning techniques to acquire information from customers to understand the customer’s financial situation or specialist needs or requirements and develop acceptable solutions, adapting communication style to suit audience.
- Identify, defuse and resolve account issues which have multiple strands or involve sensitive situations, such as critical business accounts or vulnerable customers.
- Develop strong, positive and sustained relationships with stakeholders, recognising the business context of relationships and their importance to the organisation, while dealing with a challenging situation.
- Comply with relevant governance, policies and procedures.
- Follow the environmental, social and governance requirements of their organisation.
- Take ownership of work through to resolution, re-negotiating or escalating when required.
- Make evidence-based decisions on credit and debt cases.
- Use management information tools to identify emerging risks, prioritise high risk accounts and plan workload.
- Complete actions in a reliable and timely way in line with organisation policy, values and standards.
- Make ethical and secure use of systems, tools and processes including digital technology and data analytics to deliver services to customers.
- Select credit management or debt collection strategies to resolve issues.
- Use key data and performance reports and team leadership or team working techniques to support the achievement of credit management and debt collection outcomes.
- Collaborate with own team and stakeholders to build and maintain relationships.
- Communicate with own team and stakeholders, verbally and in writing.
- Review own business working practices to identify areas for improvement.
- Facilitate changes to working practices.
- Use feedback to identify areas for personal development.
- Plan and undertake continuing professional development (CPD) and support the development of others.
- Review and analyse customer applications, seeking additional financial and non-financial information when required, and assisting with the reporting of credit checks and credit limits.
- Analyse customer credit risk and develop strategies, making evidence-based decisions on credit limits in line with regulatory and organisational requirements.
- Advise on account issues and give expert support, including referral to specialist colleagues or agencies, to find a clear path to payment or resolution for those facing financial difficulty that minimises risks of overdues or bad debts for either corporate business accounts; individual customers; or third parties, for example debt collection agencies, debt advice agencies.
- Support consistent decision making, practice and compliance with policies, regulatory requirements, and procedures by challenging any inaccuracies in customer or debt data, monitoring performance measures and advising colleagues, third party suppliers and the wider business within your remit.
- Remove controlled goods in line with organisational, legal and regulatory requirements, including the National Standards.
- Sell controlled goods in line with organisational, legal and regulatory requirements, including Taking Control of Goods National Standards.
- Engage with stakeholders on accounts, for example to resolve issues, leverage payment, support business growth.
- Negotiate good credit management or debt collection outcomes, in line with organisational policies.
- Use questioning techniques to acquire information from customers to understand the customer’s financial situation or specialist needs or requirements and develop acceptable solutions, adapting communication style to suit audience.
- Identify, defuse and resolve account issues which have multiple strands or involve sensitive situations, such as critical business accounts or vulnerable customers.
- Develop strong, positive and sustained relationships with stakeholders, recognising the business context of relationships and their importance to the organisation, while dealing with a challenging situation.
- Comply with relevant governance, policies and procedures.
- Follow the environmental, social and governance requirements of their organisation.
- Take ownership of work through to resolution, re-negotiating or escalating when required.
- Make evidence-based decisions on credit and debt cases.
- Use management information tools to identify emerging risks, prioritise high risk accounts and plan workload.
- Complete actions in a reliable and timely way in line with organisation policy, values and standards.
- Make ethical and secure use of systems, tools and processes including digital technology and data analytics to deliver services to customers.
- Select credit management or debt collection strategies to resolve issues.
- Use key data and performance reports and team leadership or team working techniques to support the achievement of credit management and debt collection outcomes.
- Collaborate with own team and stakeholders to build and maintain relationships.
- Communicate with own team and stakeholders, verbally and in writing.
- Review own business working practices to identify areas for improvement.
- Facilitate changes to working practices.
- Use feedback to identify areas for personal development.
- Plan and undertake continuing professional development (CPD) and support the development of others.
Training schedule
- Senior Credit Controller and Debt Collection Specialist Level 3
- Training will be delivered via Teams or Zoom
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Problem solving skills
- Administrative skills
- Number skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Initiative
Other requirements
Please note this post is subject to a BPSS check.
About this employer
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council prides itself on being a great place to work where staff are trusted, valued and supported to make a positive contribution at work. We truly value our Apprentices and recognise that they enable us to identify new talent and build new skills in our workforce.
Disability Confident
A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.
You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.
After this apprenticeship
There is the potential for you to secure long-term employment with the council upon completion of your qualification, and the ability to also apply for internal vacancies restricted to employees throughout your apprenticeship.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
CSA (SERVICES) LTD
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000000726.
Apply now
Closes in 15 days (Sunday 7 December 2025)
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