Estelle Castro

Senior Revenues Officer and Team Leader
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

What was your reason for studying/completing the IRRV course? 

Having switched career paths from something completely different, I embarked on my career in Revenues and quickly found myself working at a senior officer level. With no formal training, just a little shadowing, I initially processed on the Recovery Team for around eight months. Following this, I became a court officer, covering for a colleague’s secondment. I did this for one year before moving to the role of Senior Officer. This lack of revenues background meant I didn’t feel fully equipped for dealing with the queries and escalations that came my way. The IRRV diploma was a fantastic opportunity to increase my subject knowledge and confidence. I found the Council Tax Law and Practice course the most useful in terms of helping to close the gaps that I had in my knowledge and understanding. Knowing about the legislation and case law is vital!

Is distance learning your preferred method of studying, and why?

The distance learning has many positives, especially the fact that it is flexible. You can basically study when you want, which helps when you work full-time and have a busy life outside work. For anyone that prefers a bit more interpersonal interaction then perhaps one of the other IRRV courses would be a better fit. You have to be independent, intrinsically motivated and disciplined to ensure that you get the studying done with the distance learning course because there is no one there to spoon-feed you!! Having said this though, the course tutors are only an email away so there is plenty of help and support available.

Which areas of the online resources have you found most useful (e.g., live tutor sessions, webinars, pre-exam courses, online tasks, etc.)?

The course materials being available online are crucial because this is where most of the information needed to successfully get through the course is provided. I completed all of the online tasks and found them incredibly useful. This is because they allowed me to consolidate and apply my learning whilst also practising exam-style questions. Submitting them to the course tutors was a good way of receiving feedback in terms of the strengths and areas for development with my responses. The scores they gave also provided me with a rough idea of what scores I might achieve with my responses in the actual exams. I was unable to attend the pre-exam courses however having access to the recorded sessions was great, especially for the Finance part of the Finance and Administration course. I really don’t think I would have done anywhere near as well in the exam had I not accessed that session. I found the mock exam papers a good way of revising. The course tutors were very flexible with this and allowed me to complete all questions on each paper rather than just the requested number. This would have provided them with a bigger workload, so I am grateful that they did this because it really helped me to revise a wider range of topics.

What are three (or more) benefits you have experienced as a result of studying/completing the IRRV course?

Having now completed the IRRV Diploma course, my knowledge and understanding of Council Tax legislation and case law has increased massively. As a result of this, I feel much better equipped to carry out my role as a senior officer. This has had a knock-on effect on my confidence and happiness in the workplace.

Would you recommend the IRRV course/distance learning to other practitioners, and why?

Yes, I would recommend the IRRV Diploma to other practitioners. This is because your knowledge and understanding of the areas covered in the course will increase. This will have a knock-on effect with your confidence and job satisfaction. There is no denying that there is a lot of time, commitment, effort and hard work needed to complete the course and although this will be a challenge at the time, you will feel a great sense of satisfaction afterwards