Job info |
Job info details |
Job title |
Cash Collector |
Strategic team/Directorate |
Finance |
Service |
Finance |
Business unit |
Systems & Redesign |
Responsible to (day to day issues) |
Principal Finance Officer - Income |
Accountable to (line manager) |
Principal Finance Officer - Income |
Salary grade |
E |
JE ref |
CUST22 |
1. Key purpose of job
- To ensure the effective, efficient and economic operation of the car parking function for Torbay Council. To provide effective day to day income collection of the off street and on street parking machines this includes 105 on street and 91 off street machines and other council and partnership locations.
- To ensure the safe and secure collection and transportation of income from car parks, public toilet locations, council offices, TDA locations and other council establishments throughout the bay.
- To provide an efficient courier service across the bay for the transportation of money and confidential post in accordance with the schools SLA.
- To count and accurately record all collected income and prepare for collection and banking with external organisations.
- The inspection of car parks and car park machines to ensure they are working correctly. To report problems and areas of concern as soon as they arise in order to minimise the loss of Revenue to the Council.
2. Anticipated outcomes of post
- Income is collected in a secure and effective manor whilst always maintaining vigilance.
- To aid the council in its priorities through the efficient collection of income.
- All income is to be kept secure during transportation and stored securely in line with council procedures, the requirements of the insurance policies in place and the role is carried out within the Health & Safety requirements and risk analysis.
- The position Contributes to the Councils core values for the residents of the bay.
- Money is processed and banked where possible within 24 hours to ensure Council revenue is fully maximised.
- To ensure that parking machine doors are inspected and repaired where necessary, to increase the efficiency of the money collection.
- The correct decision-making process is followed to ensure that income collection is maximised; affecting not only the Income Section but also the delivery of the Parking Service.
3. List key duties and accountabilities of the post
- Identifying which car park machines require collection, keeping accurate records of numbered cash boxes removed and inserted. Remain aware of surroundings with regards to risk to that of you and your colleague. Planning and decision making is a key part of this duty to maximise income for Parking Services and other council services requiring income collection.
- Collection and delivery of coin and notes and sealed cash wallets to the secure counting and storage area within the Town Hall.
- Have a working knowledge of parking enforcement.
- When required, to work alone in the delivery of the service.
- Process large quantities of bullion and banknotes through several counting machines and recording amounts verified for banking.
- Responsibility for appropriate use of equipment required to carry out the role, including, Vehicle, counting machines, tablet computer, mobile phones.
- Collection and distribution of change orders and petty cash orders to other council offices, keeping accurate financial records of these transactions.
- The secure delivery and collection of post to all schools across the bay.
- To make decisive and immediate decisions in order to maintain the security of income and the requirements detailed in the S.L.A (Service level agreement) the Income section holds with the Car parks division and other council divisions and external organisations.
- To act as first point of contact and deal with enquiries from members of the public in person, to remain calm and courteous with public grievances and to give the correct information when requested. Ensure a high standard of customer care and service is provided in the Councils car parks, on street machines and Council premises. Provide support, advice & guidance.
- To advise Senior Income officer/ Car park inspectors on all matters relating to Car Park Machines where appropriate.
- To assist in the training and supervision of less experienced & seasonal staff through busy seasonal periods and holidays.
- To provide a service covering 5 days a week, 52 weeks per year (6 days per week April- September, inclusive) bank holidays and when requested as extra.
- Need to be conversant with the Councils Financial Regulations.
- Ensure all relevant paperwork, reports and administrative functions ascertaining to Car Park coin collection, other income collection and bulk coin processing are maintained accurately daily.
- Key holders for access to the town hall during weekends, bank holidays and emergency call outs.
- Individual alarm access codes for the income office and the safe located inside which holds the keys to the secure coin room, strong room, money cages, vehicle and all the keys needed for the parking terminals.
- Record and report financial and statistical data on the External Flowbird system.
- An effective knowledge of council and web-based financial systems.
- To work flexibly, allowing for reactive requests for collections and requests from the ops team and Flowbird and IPS machine engineers.
- Responsible for safeguarding and always promoting the welfare of children.
- To carry out daily vehicle inspection and regular maintenance in line with the council’s driver’s handbook, ensuring all checks are accurately recorded and reported.
4. Budgetary/Financial Responsibilities of the post
- The post holder is responsible for the collection, transportation and security of large sums of money in excess of £4 million in coin, notes and cheques from sources ranging from Pay & Display and On street parking terminals, toilets and all other business units within Torbay council including SWISCo, TDA and Schools.
5. Supervision/Line Management Responsibilities of the post
- Responsible for organising and planning of daily workload on Bank Holidays and weekends.
- Supervisory responsibility for additional seasonal staff and holiday/sickness cover to include on the job training.
6. Working environment and conditions of the post
- Income Collectors are exposed to all weathers and road conditions on an ongoing basis.
- Exercise conflict resolution when faced with aggression and/or verbal abuse from members of the public.
- When emptying on street meters, Income collectors are often exposed to environmental hazards associated with dog urine, faeces, and litter.
- Winter months present more difficult and hazardous road conditions and elevate the security risk due to the dark 7:00am starts.
- The deadlines imposed on this work are constantly changing due to the demand led nature of the role. You must be able to react and adapt when required and be able to adjust to conflicting priorities.
7. Physical demands of the post
- The post requires a level of fitness to conduct the repetitive manual handling of cash boxes which when full can weigh up to 25kg per box, Toilet coin bags weighing up to 10kg and the bullion coin bags weighing on average 6kg.
- Approximately 50 cash boxes per day, the movement of cash boxes happens several times per collection between vehicle and counting room.
- Manual handling in the opening of heavy car park gates and height barriers.
- When driving the post holder must always remain in the vehicle and this can be more than 8 hours per day during the busy summer months.
- When counting the bullion in the secure area of the Town Hall, the machines used to do this are extremely loud and constant. Counting the bullion can take up to 7 hours a day, leaving the employee exposed to noise levels in excess of 90db for lengthy periods of time.
- Transfer of bulk coin bags a minimum 2 collections per week, moving on average 100 bullion coin bags.
- Manual handling assessments are regularly required as the area being worked in can be high risk and frequently need to be mitigated.
- In some circumstances ‘Lone Working’ is required and risk needs to be assessed and mitigated.
8. Specific resources used by the post
- To follow procedures and be responsible for the requirement for the use of a ballistic /stab proof vest and safety boots.
- To be responsible for the day to day driving of the collector’s vehicle across the bay.
- To use the secure safe on board the vehicle for the collection and storage of cash wallets.
- Trolleys (1 electric and 1 manual) for the transportation of the cash boxes to and from the collector’s vehicle and movement of the bagged coin for collection by G4S.
- Mobile phones are also used to keep in touch with the Income office, CCTV and each other in case of an emergency or separation.
- To use a tablet computer whilst on collections and get up to the minute information regarding collections and monetary levels in the car parks.
- Large coin counting/sorting machine. Small coin counting machine. Note counting machine.
- Coin and Note boxes for car park machines, approx. 375.
- Coin bags for public toilets.
9. Key contacts and relationships
- External:
- Residents and visitors of Torbay.
- G4S security services.
- Parking terminal engineers (Flowbird, IPS & Parkeon).
- Flowbird software providers.
- Liftsafe e-powertrucks.
- Glory Global Solutions.
- Healthmatic.
- Primary and secondary schools across Torbay.
- Other External Partners such as SWISCo and the TDA.
- Internal:
- Parking Services.
- Financial services.
- Council colleagues.
- All council business units.
10. Other duties
- To undertake additional duties as required, commensurate with the level of the job.
Other Information
- All staff must commit to Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discriminatory Practice.
- The Council operates a Smoke-Free Policy and the post-holder is prohibited from smoking in any of the Council's buildings (including Council owned and Council leased buildings, but excluding designated areas in residential schemes), enclosed spaces within the curtilage of buildings, and Council vehicles. The Council does not permit smoking breaks within work time, however, in services where the flexi-scheme is in operation, employees may take reasonable break times outside of core hours, in accordance with flexi-time arrangements. Employees should follow the flexi-scheme procedure for agreeing time away from their duties in the normal manner with their immediate colleagues and line manager, with break start and finish times being recorded, as with any other break-time arrangement.
- The post-holder is expected to familiarise themselves with and adhere to all relevant Council Policies and Procedures.
- The post-holder must comply with the Council’s Health and Safety requirements as outlined in the H&S policy appropriate to the role.
- This post is office based at Torquay Town Hall but the post holder may be required to move their base to any other location within the Council at a future date.
- The post-holder must be committed to the Council’s Core Values for employees – “Torbay Council employees are committed to being forward thinking, people orientated and adaptable - always with integrity”. Evidence will be sought during the probation and appraisal processes.
- If you are required to use your own vehicle on Council business or drive a council vehicle you will be asked to provide information on any driving endorsements by accessing gov.uk/view-driving-licence and providing a code to your Line Manager in order to share your driving licence information with the Council.
- As this post meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all applicants who are offered employment will be subject to a criminal record check (Disclosure) from the Disclosure & Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of ALL cautions, reprimands or final warnings as well as convictions, whether “spent” or “unspent”. Criminal convictions will only be taken into account when they are relevant to the post.
- Torbay Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo the checks appropriate to the post applied for.
- The post holder is expected to work in a way that ensures vulnerable children and adults are safeguarded and report any safeguarding concerns in accordance with established policies and procedures.
Person Specification
Note for Candidate
All Candidates
The supporting statement on your application form will be used to assess ability to meet the essential requirements of the role, so you should explain how you meet each of the numbered essential requirements within your supporting statement.
In a competitive situation, the desirable criteria may be taken into consideration, so you are encouraged to show how you also meet each of the desirable criteria.
Candidates who consider that they have a disability
Reasonable adjustments will be made to the job, job requirements or recruitment process for candidates with a disability.
If you consider yourself to have a disability you should indicate this on your application form, providing any information you would like us to take into account with regard to your disability in order to offer a fair selection interview.
Where ever possible and reasonable we will make adjustments and offer alternatives to help you through the application and selection process.
If you have indicated that you have a disability on your application form you will be guaranteed an interview if you clearly demonstrate in your supporting evidence how you broadly meet the essential requirements of the role.
Job info |
Job info details |
Job Title |
Cash Collector |
Strategic team/Directorate |
Finance |
Service |
Finance |
Business unit |
Systems & Redesign |
Skills and effectiveness
Essential skills and effectiveness
- Knowledge of C.I.T (cash in transit).
- Effectively manage lone working and personal responsibility for completing duties accurately, to include effective organisational skills.
- Must be able to demonstrate personal effectiveness and ability to prioritise multiple tasks and to meet agreed guidelines.
- Good analytical skills and ability to creatively solve problems.
- Ability to understand financial and statistical data.
- Good interpersonal skills and the ability to establish positive relationships with customers across the organisation, outside agencies and members of the public.
- Ability to effectively handle difficult situations and confrontations with members of the public whilst carrying out collection duties. You will need to use tact and persuasion to deal with these situations and be able to provide support, advice & guidance.
- Must be able to work accurately and produce work of a high standard.
- Personal awareness and the ability to identify risks which may arise.
- Effective Knowledge of Microsoft Software packages to include Teams, Word, Outlook, and Excel.
- Decision making skills are essential to ensure income collection is maximised and efficient.
- The deadlines imposed on this work are constantly changing due to the demand led nature of the role. You must be able to react and adapt when required and be able to adjust to conflicting priorities.
Desirable skills and effectiveness
- Ability to demonstrate working on their own initiative and team working.
- Ability to understand and work within prescribed procedures or guidelines.
Knowledge
Essential knowledge
- Knowledge of cash in transit procedures, cash handling, and/or financial systems, Health and Safety requirements, Risk Management, and insurance policies.
- Knowledge of the Geographical area within Torbay.
- Manual Handling – regular training and update required.
Desirable knowledge
- Knowledge of Council’s financial systems.
- Knowledge of web based financial systems.
Experience and achievements
Essential experience and achievements
- To have worked in an environment which required cash handling skills and security of resources is important.
- To demonstrate initiative and able to organise their work effectively, as an individual and as part of a small team.
- Manual Handling and Health & Safety awareness & training.
- Experience of lone working.
Desirable experience and achievements
- To have worked in an environment where they need to demonstrate trust and responsibility in performing duties.
- Experience in a cash in transit role.
Qualifications/professional memberships
Essential qualifications/professional memberships
- Must hold a current full UK Driving Licence (Council vehicle provided).
- Educated to GCSE level or equivalent, to include maths and English.
- To demonstrate ongoing personal development.
Desirable qualifications/professional memberships
- Financial or Customer service Qualifications, e.g., NVQ’s.
- ECDL.
Other requirements
Other requirements of the job role
- Ability to travel efficiently around the Bay/South West/UK in order to carry out duties.
- Ability to accommodate unsociable hours.
- Ability to accommodate on-call working.
- Ability to carry out the physical requirements of the role.
- As this post meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all applicants who are offered employment will be subject to a criminal record check (Disclosure) from the Criminal Records Bureau before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of ALL cautions, reprimands or final warnings as well as convictions, whether “spent” or “unspent”. Criminal convictions will only be taken into account when they are relevant to the post.