Client Services Apprentice

Summary

We are looking for an enthusiastic, resilient apprentice who loves working with a range of people to join our Client Services team who welcome and help clients in our busy advice charity and to support our advisers with admin, appointment booking and record keeping.

Wage

£11,778 to £19,047.60, depending on your age

National Minimum Wage

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Training course

Customer service practitioner (level 2)

Hours

Monday - Friday, Shifts to be disclosed.

30 hours a week

Start date

Wednesday 30 July 2025

Duration

1 year

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

We'll provide all the training you need to thrive in a really friendly, busy place that makes a huge difference to people in our District. We provide advice about financial crisis, debt, benefits, housing, employment and family law. Our service is there for everyone and we often help people experiencing very difficult situations

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

You will be expected to time manage and prioritise your workload as appropriate in what is a very busy and fast paced organisation
Enquiries are received via telephone, email, face to face and answer machine messages
Following set procedures register all client enquiries on the national Citizens Advice electronic record keeping system, Casebook
Maintaining confidentiality and complying with all national GDPR requirements liaise with advisers and relay information relating to ongoing and new cases as required
Process food parcel and fuel voucher requests as appropriate
Open, record, scan and distribute incoming post
Proofread, print and post outgoing mail and record as necessary ready for dispatch
Ensure all incoming client documentation is scanned and added to their electronic data record notifying the relevant caseworker
Process incoming referrals to the service registering clients on our electronic client database and follow set procedures
Book both scheduled and one off appointments using our in house electronic system ensuring the client receives a text message with the relevant details
Provide help, training and support to our volunteer advisers as needed
You will maintain and work with all our administrative systems and procedures to ensure efficient working and compliance with Citizens Advice quality standards, our various funders, including the Money & Pensions Advice Service, Community Fund and our core funder, Lancaster City Council
Any other administration tasks as requested by the Client Services Team Leader or Senior Management Team at Citizens Advice North Lancashire

Reception:

First point of contact for all clients accessing CANL via our reception area offering a welcoming, non judgemental and professional approach
Triage as appropriate and provide information regarding the various different options for accessing advice from CANL
Provide general information about the service as requested
Prioritise and if required seek support from the daily duty person if you feel a client may be in crisis or a matter may be urgent
Register clients as appropriate on our ‘in house’ client database
Provide support to the Advice Navigators dealing with ‘drop in’ clients

Where you'll work

OBAN HOUSE
87-89 QUEEN STREET
MORECAMBE
LA4 5EN

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

LANCASTER AND MORECAMBE COLLEGE

Your training course

Customer service practitioner (level 2)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

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.
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
Depending on your job role and work environment: Use appropriate communication skills, along with reinforcement techniques (to confirm understanding) during non-facing customer interactions.
Depending on your job role and work environment: Use an appropriate ‘tone of voice’ in all communications, including written and digital, that reflect the organisation’s brand.
Provide clear explanations and offer options in order to help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and your organisation.
Be able to organise yourself, prioritise your own workload/activity and work to meet deadlines.
Demonstrate patience and calmness.
Show you understand the customer’s point of view.
Use appropriate sign-posting or resolution to meet your customers needs and manage expectations.
Maintain informative communication during service recovery.

Your training plan

This training plan has not been finalised. Check with this employer if you’ll need to travel to a college or training location for this apprenticeship.

More training information

Level 2 Customer Service Practitioner Apprenticeship Standard:
Relevant training will be provided through Lancaster and Morecambe College
Functional Skills may be required if entry requirements not met

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

English (grade 3)
Maths (grade 3)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
IT skills
Attention to detail
Organisation skills
Customer care skills
Administrative skills
Team working
Initiative
Non judgemental
Patience

About this company

Citizens Advice North Lancashire is a local charity supporting around 8,000 people each year in Lancaster and Morecambe. We give in depth expert advice to people in all areas of social welfare law including financial crisis, debt, benefits, housing, employment and family law. Our service is free, independent, impartial and always confidential.

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

Citizens Advice offers a structured training programme from apprentice to Advice Director and everything in between
We have a huge range of training so if you're interested in learning about customer service and working in a charity we can train you in a variety of skills and tasks including specialist debt and housing work, and formal advice giving
Citizens Advice is a great place to start if you're interested in a career in law or the charity sector

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

LANCASTER AND MORECAMBE COLLEGE

Charlie Helme

c.helme@lmc.ac.uk

01524 521483

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000327864.

Apply now

Closes in 29 days (Thursday 24 July 2025)

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After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.

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