Sean Beesley, TECH IRRV

I started the course in 2019, having been a Technical Officer at RMBC for over a year. This job is within the debt recovery section so I was required to attend court for Council Tax and Non Domestic Rating matters, handle complaints, supervise staff and make decisions towards recovering arrears. Our team also have involvement in the billing side, dealing with calls and queries relating to bills and other notices that follow. The qualification looked set to improve my knowledge and confidence in many areas relevant to my role and within the authority, it had been many years since anybody studied and went on to qualify.

Distance Learning was the only realistic option for me as the nature of the job didn’t allow for set periods of time to be set aside for studying. That didn’t put me off, Distance Learning was something I was keen to try and the flexibility of planning in my own revision, at my chosen time and locations, was something I much preferred. I found this to be a better idea than being told for example, “every Tuesday you need to study 9-5”. Distance Learning allowed me to mix up my approach, sometimes I might just spend 30 minutes reading the content, others I might dedicate many hours reading, revising, testing myself. Particularly as exam dates approached, I felt that distance learning allowed me to increase the weekly hours accordingly.

The online resources have been crucial to my learning. In terms of what is available online in the Learning Centre for students, I know from discussions with other students at forums and pre exam courses, that many just download the modules and never revisit the online resources. In there I could send off practice answers to questions, which gives feedback and useful documents in return such as marking schedules likely to apply for such questions and an idea as to how many marks my answer might get in an exam. Knowing this gives students scope as to where they need to dedicate their time in advance of the exams. I attended some forums which were useful to understand how to approach learning, in addition to making the whole process of exams and assignment, quite simple. This avoided any stress of the unknown, as there is nothing worse than turning up to exams and forgetting key documents, or completing an assignment and not knowing where to send it. Live sessions and recordings with tutors were helpful, which I attended where possible but in some cases, I listened in to the recordings at a future date. Finally, the pre exam courses make a huge difference. I attended one in advance of all exams, two virtually and one physically at the IRRV office. These gave me a good indication of where to dedicate the time I had left and whilst tutors make it clear that they don’t know what the questions are, they engage with students and look at past papers to practice answering questions and also other tips surrounding structuring answers and which case law and legislation to consider.

In terms of benefits I have experienced, the legislative knowledge has been useful and I have been able to use this during phone calls with customers, to enhance letter and email responses, as well as feeling more confident at court given that all three modules covered this in some respect. It has allowed me to learn a lot more towards areas within Revenues that my job may not have exposed me to otherwise. The Case Law that is covered in many subjects has also helped, some of which has been helpful for court hearings I have been involved with. The qualification has also allowed me to see the benefits that being a member can offer, as I have attended National Conference at Telford as well as a Spring Conference at Leeds. These each allowed me to see the amount of networking taking place between Council’s and other organisations, as well as being present in many seminars covering topics applicable to my day to day job. I receive the newsletters and Insight Magazines and check these for updates too. Finally, one personal benefit for me was the feeling of achievement after each exam result. After leaving school I studied at College and then University, which once completed I was ready to part with Education and get into work. I visualised that being the last time I would study or take an Exam, but this course has shown me that I can still take on new subjects, put in the effort and obtain a qualification that doesn’t just require hard work, but is actually recognised in my working area too.

I would recommend the course to others as I think the course will greatly improve anyone’s knowledge towards the Work Stream they choose. The admin course focusses on topics that are transferrable to almost any role and the other subjects equip you with specialist knowledge, which is invaluable in a workplace.

I didn’t start the course with the aim of obtaining the qualification then immediately moving to a job that requires the qualification. That being said, I am aware that many jobs that I would naturally progress to from my current role do state that such a qualification is desired or sometimes essential. I therefore think that wherever my career takes me, this qualification is with me forever and could always be that small thing that helps to elevate me above other applicants and move further in my career.