This role involves working within the local taxation department at Scarborough Borough Council. I am responsible for dealing with Council Tax administration and Recovery. I deal directly with customers over the telephone, in writing and face to face to accurately administer Council Tax and maximise collection through a variety of debt collection methods.I make decisions in respect of liabilities, exemptions, discounts and other reliefs in accordance with law and policy guidelines. I work on service requests to change people addresses, set up direct debits, give refunds to customers and provide discounts and exemptions to bills. I work on payment plans for customers which means dealing with reminders, final notices and summonses to court.

Working in four different tourist information centres across Scarborough, Whitby and Filey has been of exceptional benefit to me and given me an amazing insight into the work carried out. I also hope that it has been an important step on the employment ladder for me as it has taught me how to deal with different members of the public. I have engaged with external companies like Welcome to Yorkshire through to individual tourists visiting one of the seaside resorts. I have worked hard to gain excellent customer service experience and I have been trained in many different sectors from ‘telephone customer service’ through an external training company (Tyro) to Safeguarding children in the community. I have learned how to deal with people in a professional and courteous manner at all times. We work as a very close knit team, although I have also had a lot of experience in working on my own initiative, as I have to deal with handling and processing orders for the centres and working alone in the winter months.

Within this role I had to build relationships with journalists, write numerous media releases and I had to set up photo opportunities and meet with journalists to tell them about the different news worthy things happening in the hospital.I had to try and promote the NHS brand not only with external customer but with internal customers as well. On a weekly basis I wrote different articles which were included in the internal newsletter for employees. I wrote many different press releases for the organisation which gained coverage across Yorkshire in the Scarborough Evening News, BBC Radio York and the Bridlington Free Press. I also helped to organise different events such as the opening of Maple ward which had just been modernised. This involved speaking with different media outlets and asking them to attend. Working within the hospital also gave me the opportunity to work with the board of directors and sit in on the different meetings they held. I also got different opportunities to interview the director and find on his views on different issues arising in the hospital.