Business Support Apprentice - Business Management Charges and Payments
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Oldbury (B69 3DB)
Closes in 4 days (Friday 12 December 2025 at 11:59pm)
Posted on 5 December 2025
Contents
Summary
This role assists senior officers and management teams by providing administrative support, allowing them to support vulnerable service users. You will be helping to support the Adult Social Care Vision ‘The Right Support at the right time and the right place, to maximise independence and empower people to remain safe and healthy’.
- Wage
-
£14,526.20 for your first year, then could increase depending on your age
National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices
- Training course
- Customer service practitioner (level 2)
- Hours
-
Monday to Friday between 9am to 5.30pm.
37 hours a week
- Start date
-
Monday 2 February 2026
- Duration
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1 year 3 months
- 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
Working within the team for Charges and Payments supporting staff with administrative tasks, you will be supported by a team leader and will support officers by providing administrative support so they can focus on delivering services to our vulnerable service users.
You will be supported by a team leader and will be supporting management teams and senior officers by providing administrative support so they can focus on supporting our vulnerable service users. You will learn telephone, reception and a wide range of administrative skills to not only develop your knowledge of working in Adult Social Care, but also administration skills.
Whilst undertaking your apprenticeship you will work towards developing your skills, knowledge and experience, by carrying out the following duties:
- Deal with a range of telephone and email enquiries from customers by providing a reception service and back-office tasks.
- Provides a range of administrative/business support services to staff including word processing, formatting of complex documents, filing, photocopying.
- Assist the team/s with maintaining accurate and up to date records using various systems, both manual and computerised systems. Raise orders and deal with invoices and related enquiries.
- Under guidance, respond to requests for information/enquiries regarding the collation of statistical information and the generation of correspondence as required.
- With support, provides administrative support at meetings, workshops events including agenda preparation, collation of supporting papers, minute taking, and production and distribution of minutes/action notes, which may be confidential in nature.
- To assist with the creation and preparation of reports, letters, memo’s spreadsheets, documents, databases etc. using a range of word processing and computer software packages including, Word, Excel, Adobe, Publisher, PowerPoint, Access and Oracle.
- Actively participate in regular progress reviews.
- Become an active team member.
- Undertake appropriate training as identified relevant to the role.
- Deliver services in a courteous and professional manner.
- Always maintain strict confidentiality of data.
Where you'll work
Freeth Street
Oldbury
B69 3DB
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
SANDWELL COLLEGE
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.
Training schedule
The apprenticeship training will be delivered in the workplace, as you will receive visits from a college assessor.
More training information
The apprenticeship will also include a proportion of 20% off-the-job training and a robust programme of mandatory apprentice training provided by Sandwell Council to include Workplace Professionalism and Equality & Diversity.
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
- English Language (grade 4/C)
- Maths (grade 4/C)
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Presentation skills
- Administrative skills
- Number skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
About this employer
Sandwell is a large, multicultural metropolitan borough situated in the heart of the Black Country, to the west of Birmingham, within the West Midlands conurbation and with a population of over 280,000. The Council is one of the largest employers in the Borough with employees in a variety of occupations, providing a comprehensive range of services. For more information about Sandwell Council’s apprenticeship programme and our recruitment process please visit our YouTube channel. Find out more information on Sandwell’s Values and Behaviours on the council’s webpage. For more information on careers in local government you can view a copy of the Local Government Career Guide.
After this apprenticeship
This apprenticeship is a fixed-term contract. However, the skills, knowledge and experience gained in this apprenticeship will allow you to gain future opportunities in the sector.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
SANDWELL COLLEGE
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000004173.
Apply now
Closes in 4 days (Friday 12 December 2025 at 11:59pm)
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