Overview of the role
Providing customer service products and services for businesses and other organisations including face-to-face, telephone, digital and written contact and communications.
Knowledge
- Knowing your customers
- Understand who customers are.
- Understand the difference between internal and external customers.
- Understand the different needs and priorities of your customers and the best way to manage their expectations, recognising and knowing how to adapt style to be highly effective.
- Understanding the organisation
- Know the purpose of the business and what ‘brand promise’ means
- Know your organisation’s core values and how they link to the service culture.
Your role and responsibility
- Understand your role and responsibility within your organisation and the impact of your actions on others.
- Know the targets and goals you need to deliver against.
- Customer experience
- Understand how establishing the facts enable you to create a customer focused experience and appropriate response.
- Understand how to build trust with a customer and why this is important.
- Product and service knowledge
Interpersonal skills
- Use a range of questioning skills, including listening and responding in a way that builds rapport, determines customer needs and expectations and achieves positive engagement and delivery.
- Communication
- Depending on your job role and work environment:
- Use appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication skills, along with summarising language during face-to-face communications; and/or
- Use appropriate communication skills, along with reinforcement techniques (to confirm understanding) during non-facing customer interactions.
- Provide clear explanations and offer options in order to help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and your organisation.
Behaviours
- Developing self
- Take ownership for keeping your service knowledge and skills up-to-date.
- Consider personal goals and propose development that would help achieve them.
Duration
12 months (this does not include EPA period)
Delivery
The delivery will be done mainly at the workplace, with the off-the-job training accounting for at least 6 hours a week. The assessor will regularly visit you at work to observe you performing relevant tasks and to carry out professional discussions.
You will complete a Level 2 Customer Service Practitioner prior to taking the end-point assessment.
Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level prior to taking the end-point assessment.
Upon completion you can progress onto an advanced or higher apprenticeship at level 3, 4 or 5.
End Point Assessment
The end-point assessment (EPA) for Customer Service Practitioner contains 3 methods of assessment which will be graded as Fail, Pass or Distinction:
- Work based project
- Practical observation
- Professional discussion
Candidates for this course should be working in a related sector.
All applications will be reviewed on an individual basis. If you have experience or previous knowledge that will support your application please remember to include it. Individuals without level 1 English and maths will need to achieve this level and take the test for level 2 English and maths prior to taking the end-point assessment.
As an employer that doesn’t pay the apprenticeship levy, you pay just 5% towards the cost of training and assessing an apprentice.
The government will pay the rest up to the funding band maximum.
You’ll pay the training provider directly and agree on a payment schedule.
If you employ fewer than 50 employees, the government will pay 100% of the apprenticeship training costs up to the funding band maximum for apprentices aged:
- 16 to 21
- 19 to 24 with an education, health and care plan provided by their local authority or has been in the care of their local authority
Paying employer National Insurance contributions
Employers may not need to pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions for an apprentice, if the apprentice is:
- under 25 years old
- on an approved UK government apprenticeship standard or framework (these can differ depending on country)
- earns less than £967 a week (£50,270 a year)
The apprentice, as an employee, will continue to pay Class 1 insurance contributions through their salary, this will only benefit the employer.
Read HMRC’s guidance on paying National Insurance contributions.