National Occupational Standards in customer service spell out in some detail what people need to do to deliver customer service well.
The overall purpose of the standards is to challenge organisations and individuals to raise their game when it comes to customer service. We’ve put these together in consultation with employers across the UK. They are nationally recognised and flexible enough to allow for the differences of approach from organisation to organisation and sector to sector.
Employers tell us they used the Customer Service National Occupational Standards to:
- develop a customer service strategy
- evaluate their customer service systems and processes
- support quality improvement programmes
- support culture change
- set and appraise individual or team objectives
- analyse their people’s skills
- benchmark individual performance
- develop job descriptions
- identify individual training needs
- develop in-house training materials
- deliver qualifications
Customer Service National Occupational Standards 2006
The National Occupational Standards in Customer Service 2007 include a new larger suite of standards organised thematically.
You can download overviews of the 2006 standards. We’ve also published the full details and content on a CD-Rom – this is for sale in our online shop.
National Occupational Standards as qualifications
The National Occupational Standards in Customer Service are used as part of the government-regulated system of vocational qualifications in the UK. They’re the basis for customer service NVQ/SVQs and other qualifications which can be used as a stand-alone qualification or as the ‘core outcomes’ of Customer Service Apprenticeships.
For qualification purposes, the standards have been rated at four levels of competence. In broad terms, these are aimed at:
Level 1: people who are about to embark on a career in customer service. This is suitable for people of all ages – whether they’re going into employment for the first time, have just started a customer-focused job or are thinking of changing their career path. This level gives people a foundation to help them progress in a future customer service career.
Level 2: people whose customer service role calls for well-developed behavioural competence but whose scope for bringing about change and independent decision-making is limited.
Level 3: people who have the scope to bring about permanent improvements in service delivery that benefit their organisation and its customers. These people don’t necessarily have to be in a role where they’re directly responsible for people.
Level 4: people who manage customer service functions, who have more general management or technical responsibilities, or who occupy a specialist internal consultancy role within their organisation.
You can read more about customer service NVQs/SVQs or apprenticeships.
New Level 1 National Occupational Standards in customer service 2007
The new Level 1 National Occupational Standards were approved in April 2007.
They are designed to meet the needs of people who:
- are looking for work
- are in schools or colleges
- are just starting their careers
- need a lower level because they are limited by their current job roles and responsibilities
You can download the level 1 standards and read more about the new level 1 S/NVQs.