Debt Advisers - National Debtline

Debt Advisers (National Debtline)  

Birmingham / Hybrid  

Salary: £35,189 per annum (inclusive of shift allowance) plus pension, 37 days annual leave and great benefits  

Closing date for applications is 13th November 2024.  

Stage one: telephone interviews will commence 4th November.  

Stage two: formal interviews to take place at our Birmingham office from w/c 11th November. 

Start date: 3rd February 2025 

Can you help people through the cost of living crisis?   

We are looking for exceptional new colleagues to join our great team at the Money Advice Trust and become debt advisers, to provide free debt advice to people contacting our National Debtline service by telephone. If you are self-motivated, have high resilience, able to problem solve, have outstanding customer-focused communication skills and you want to help people through the cost-of-living crisis and beyond, then the Debt Adviser is the role for you.  

National Debtline is an award-winning free debt advice service run by the Money Advice Trust, an independent charity founded in 1991 to help people across the UK to tackle their debts and manage their money with confidence.  

As a debt adviser you will provide advice, support, and money management help to people struggling with problem debt. This will include helping callers to form a budget, prioritise their debts and identify possible solutions, in compliance with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations. You will be required to fact find, analyse and work out solutions for the client.  

This is a role for resilient candidates who are consistent in approach and can demonstrate that they are able to deal with subjects that can be highly emotive and sensitive. Training and assessments are intense and there is a requirement to manage your own development during and outside working hours to stay up to date with new legislation in this arena. You will need initiative to research some of the finer technical points of debt advice. The calls we receive and productivity targets you need to achieve are challenging and you will be dealing with vulnerable clients daily who may be experiencing poor mental health or at risk of suicide.  

Skill Requirements  

• You will be an articulate communicator with the resilience to deal with a variety of callers, some of whom may be distressed or have suicidal thoughts, and you’ll balance this with empathy and the ability to build trust.  

• The ability to fact find 

• Be able to problem solve 

• To quickly analyse complex situations to find the best solution.  

• You will have ideally worked in a busy, target-driven environment before  

• Ability to effectively manage a significant number of calls per day  

• Strong administration skills, with the ability to plan and organise time and manage workload effectively ensuring deadlines are met.  

• Possess a high level of IT proficiency, including Word, Excel, Outlook, Zoom, Teams, navigating around CRM databases  

• Excellent attention to detail  

• Non-judgemental and empathetic attitude towards people in debt. Able to deal compassionately with challenging situations. 

• Highly resilient, with the ability to work under pressure, whilst meeting productivity and quality targets.  

• Experience in a telephony customer service role and giving telephone advice would be an advantage but not essential..  

The role will commence 3rd February 2025. If you believe you can make a difference and want to be part of our great team, please click apply. 

You must be able to work a shift pattern between our service hours of 9.00am – 8.00pm with a one in five Saturday working rota (9.30 am – 1.00 pm). Shifts and Saturday work are subject to review and change. We also have part time roles available working a minimum of 27.5 hours per week. 

We offer full training and extensive support. Working hours during the initial training period will be 9am to 5pm, with the majority being mandatory on-site training days at our newly refurbished offices in Birmingham. After training you will move either to office / hybrid working - your choice.  

You must be able to commit to training full time for the first 10 weeks of employment.  

We reserve the right to close the role early should we receive high numbers of applications. To avoid disappointment, please apply as soon as possible.  

In return it is an extremely rewarding role in a friendly, informal, and supportive environment with excellent salary and benefits.  

• 29 days annual leave plus bank holidays  

• A contributory pension scheme  

• Hybrid working arrangement  

• Generous Life Insurance  

• Wellbeing days 

• Healthcare cash back scheme 

• Free on-site gym  

• Enhanced maternity pay  

• Long service awards  

• Subsidised parking 

• Social events 

• Birthday voucher 

• Employee Assistance Programme 

In our commitment to non-biased recruitment, we request that you do not include your name or personal details on your supporting statement.                     

We will only use the data you supply to us in CVs or application forms for recruitment purposes. This data will be held for twelve months. For further information please refer to our Privacy Notice for Job Applicants, available on the vacancies page of our website.  

We take diversity seriously and are committed to making diversity and inclusion a part of everything we do. We strive to create a workplace that reflects the communities we serve, and our vision is to be a place where everyone feels welcome and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work and make the Money Advice Trust an employer of choice.  

We are committed to working in an equitable, diverse and inclusive environment and welcome applications from all backgrounds. We use a blind recruitment system which hides your personal details such as name, address, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, educational institution to ensure all candidates are on a level playing field. Personal details will only be revealed once the application has been shortlisted.