Decision Making DWP are looking to fill Executive Officer roles in DWP, Work and Health Decision Making Directorate. These are key roles for people who have a positive attitude, a desire for public service and want to make a difference to people’s lives. We welcome applications from candidates who demonstrate they have the right influencing and communicating skills to be responsive to the needs of a diverse group of customers, an ability to understand complex information and can make the right decision at the right time. About us - Department for Work and Pensions GOV.UK Job description Successful candidates can expect to be involved in a range of the following: • Make decisions on complex cases relating to labour market, benefit entitlements, Work Capability Assessments (WCAs), Habitual Residency Tests (HRTs) reconsiderations and appeals. • Update claimant accounts with the outcome of decisions, gather evidence, examine the facts and consider the relevant legislation in order to make a decision on each case. • Participate in continuous service improvement by providing relevant feedback. • Make critical and robust decisions across all parts of the Universal Credit claimant journey. • Critically analyse and interpret data to make effective decisions. • Maintain knowledge of DWP legislation, labour market policy and Decision Making and Appeals (DMA) processes. • Consider each claimant case, using all available information and requesting more detail or evidence if required. • Be mindful of the claimant experience when discussing and explaining decisions. • Provide excellent customer service, considering a claimant’s individual circumstances including complex needs, when communicating with them. • Demonstrate strong telephony and digital communication skills with a diverse range of claimants, some with very complex needs. • Have the ability and resilience to handle sensitive and challenging situations with all claimants. • Use the service to deliver strong case management by checking outstanding work to identify, prioritise and complete work as effectively as possible. • Inform Case Managers and Work Coaches about decisions made following their referrals by issuing appropriate notifications and by taking a once and done approach to assist claimants where able. • Do the best thing for each claimant and ensure each claimant receives the correct amount of UC, at the right time. • Stay informed about changes within the service and have an impact on future service developments. • Take ownership of personal development and continuous service improvement activity by self-service digital learning, communications tools and in-context prompts in the service. • Follow the Universal Learning principle of accessing self-service guidance and in-context prompts at the point of need. • Take appropriate action to encourage and support the reporting and logging all incidents of Unacceptable Claimant Behaviour. Person Specification To be successful you will need to demonstrate effective communication skills across a wide range of diverse customers, along with the ability to understand and translate complex information into clear, succinct explanations for the customer. You will also need to learn to use a range of computer systems and be required to handle telephone queries, some of which may be sensitive. You will need to have: • Strong written and verbal communication skills. • Ability to collate and analyse information – ask the right questions and solve problems. • A good listener who is able to express empathy at the right time. • Demonstrate sound judgement and objective thinking. • A self-starter that can work independently and stay organised. • A team player that can collaborate with colleagues to solve problems or develop new thinking. • A firm commitment to being an inclusive colleague. Benefits With great benefits including: • Generous annual leave, plus bank holidays. • Flexible working patterns available. • Competitive maternity, paternity, and parental leave. • A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Alongside your salary of £29,500 DWP contributes £7965 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. • Employee Assistance Programme with emphasis on wellbeing. • Career and Personal Development through Operational Delivery Profession. • Employee discount schemes.