Customer Service Practitioner

Overview of the Standard

The role of a customer service practitioner is to deliver high quality products and services to the customers of their organisation. Your core responsibility will be to provide a high-quality service to customers which will be delivered from the workplace, digitally, or through going out into the customer’s own locality. These may be one-off or routine contacts and include dealing with orders, payments, offering advice, guidance and support, meet-and-greet, sales, fixing problems, after care, service recovery or gaining insight through measuring customer satisfaction. You may be the first point of contact and work in any sector or organisation type.

Your actions will influence the customer experience and their satisfaction with your organisation. You will demonstrate excellent customer service skills and behaviours as well as product and/or service knowledge when delivering to your customers. You provide service in line with the organisation’s customer service standards and strategy and within appropriate regulatory requirements. Your customer interactions may cover a wide range of situations and can include; face-to-face, telephone, post, email, text and social media.

Details of the Standard

The apprenticeship is broken up into distinct phases:

• The sign-up, which includes an assessment of maths and English, and an agreement between us, the apprentice and the employer, regarding the training plan.
• The practical period, which is the bulk of the apprenticeship. This is where the apprentice completes their required off-job-training according to the agreed training plan.
• The gateway. At the end of the practical period, the employer, training provider and apprentice meet to discuss the next, and final stage, the End Point Assessment (EPA). At the Gateway meeting, we ensure that the apprentice is ready to undertake the EPA.
• The End Point Assessment (EPA) is the last stage of the apprenticeship. The apprentice will undertake a series of independent assessments, which may include multiple choice questions, a professional discussion and/or a practical test. Successfully completing this step results in achieving the apprenticeship!

Duration

This apprenticeship is based on a 12-month practical period.

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements are largely dependent on the vacancy notice set out by the employer - please read the job advert that relates to the role you are considering.

English and maths

At Level 2, apprentices who do not have Level 1 (GCSE Grade D) in English and maths must prioritise achieving Level 1 in these subjects and are only required to work towards Level 2 English and maths where they have time remaining to make meaningful progress (once they have achieved Level 1).

Curriculum, delivery and readiness for End-Point-Assessment

The content delivery will be agreed between the apprentice, employer and training provider and is based upon prior knowledge and qualifications. This agreement forms the individualised Training Plan, detailing how the knowledge, skills and behaviours in the apprenticeship Standard will be met.

The employer, and Training Provider, will formally sign-off that the apprentice has met the minimum requirements in regard to knowledge, skills and behaviours within the Standard and confirm they are ready to move on to the end assessment. This will happen during a meeting involving the apprentice, their line manager and the trainer.

The end point assessment is synoptic and takes place at the end of the apprentice’s learning and development, after a minimum of 12 month’s on programme learning.

Summary End-Point-Assessment

The End Point Assessment consists of three elements, which must be completed successfully to achieve the apprenticeship. These are:

• Apprentice showcase: the apprentice must compile a showcase for the assessor showing how they have met the knowledge, skills and behaviours required of the apprenticeship. The showcase can be delivered via a presentation, or by a virtual form of assessment such as submission of a report, storyboard, journal, etc. to the assessment organisation.
• Practical observation: the apprentice will be observed by the assessor in different scenarios, for example, handling a general enquiry, dealing with a customer complaint or a need for further information or detail, but it is mandatory that the observation covers as a minimum: presentation, equality, interpersonal skills, communication and personal organisation.
• Professional discussion: this follows the observation, to establish the apprentice’s understanding and application of knowledge, skills and behaviours.

Progression

Completion of this apprenticeship will lead to eligibility to join the Institute of Customer Service as an Individual member at Professional level.