EPA Standard
Customer Service Practitioner
Level 2 
£3,500 12 months
1. What the role entails
Customer Service Practitioners make sure customers are satisfied. They provide excellent customer service and promote customer-centric behaviours throughout their organisation. The role requires apprentices to perform a range of service delivery functions including dealing with orders, payments, offering, advice and guidance, problem resolution, after care and service recovery. Apprentices can also help develop and implement a customer service policy for the entire organisation, finding ways to measure customer satisfaction and improve services.
2. On-programme assessment
Before entering Gateway, the apprentice must complete the following on-programme assessment requirements:
- Level 1 English and maths
- an Apprentice Showcase (only after 12 months on-programme).
3. Gateway requirements
The employer, independent training provider (ITP) and apprentice make the decision to take the apprentice through Gateway. The apprentice must achieve all the required on-programme elements before they enter Gateway.
4. End-point assessment
The EPA for Customer Service Practitioner contains three methods of assessment:
Apprentice Showcase
Designed to evidence professional competence at the required level, the Apprentice Showcase enables apprentices to reflect and present examples of their development over the whole on-programme period. The Independent End-Point Assessor (IEPA) will assess the Apprentice Showcase by interviewing the apprentice about their learning and experience. The Showcase Interview will last a maximum of 30 minutes.
Grade weighting: the Apprentice Showcase is graded as a Pass or Distinction, and it carries 65% of the final grade.
Practical Observation
The Practical Observation enables the apprentice to show their skills, knowledge and behaviours from across the standard. Critical to the standardised quality of the assessment is the inclusion of the apprentice’s presentation, equality, interpersonal skills, communication and personal organisation. The Observation lasts for a minimum of one hour and any area of the standard which were not possible to evidence during the Observation will be discussed as part of the Professional Discussion.
Grade weighting: graded as a Pass or Distinction and carries 20% of the final grade.
Professional Discussion
Following the Practical Observation, the IEPA leads an hour long discussion to uncover additional evidence of personal development activities and how this learning was applied to the role and workplace.
Grade weighting: graded as a Pass or Distinction and carries 15% of the final grade.
5. Grade aggregation table
| Pass | All Pass Criteria achieved | ||
| Distinction | All Pass Criteria achieved, plus: | ||
| Apprentice Showcase | 7 of 10 Distinction Criteria | ||
| Observation | 4 of 5 Distinction Criteria | ||
| Professional Discussion | 3 of 4 Distinction Criteria | ||
If an apprentice fails any assessment method, the entire EPA will be deemed as an overall Fail.
6. Completion and certification
We’ll activate certification once the apprentice has successfully completed all EPAs, and the IEPA has verified this. Working with the apprenticeship certificate issuing authority, we’ll ensure the apprentice receives their certificate.
7. What next?
The learning doesn’t stop once the apprenticeship is complete. We offer a full suite of programmes to take your apprentice up the career ladder. Their next step could be the Level 3 Customer Service Specialist apprenticeship, which then could lead to the Level 4 Associate Project Manager and the Level 5 Operations or Departmental Manager apprenticeships.
Why NCFE?
We’re an approved End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) specialising in EPA delivery across health, education, early years, digital, social care, finance and business apprenticeship standards. We offer flexible and reliable EPA solutions supported by sector expertise, guidance documents and proactive service and support.