Skills for Work: Customer Service
Customer Service is an Open Awards Skills for Work unit offered at 5 levels, Entry Level 1 to Level 2, each a separate 20 guided learning hour unit. Learners move from recognising helpful behaviour and greeting customers to explaining the effects of good and poor service, adapting communication for different customers and handling complaints, with Level 2 adding a written first impression and reflection. Most evidence is role play and observed practice, collected in a portfolio. Digital demand is low: email, online messaging and online reviews appear only as examples, and no criterion needs a device.
- Awarding body
- Open Awards
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level 1 (CBM216): Four learning outcomes: recognise helpful and unhelpful behaviour, identify a positive greeting and appropriate gestures and state a question to ask customers, identify a customer service problem and who to tell, and show how to help a customer and respond to a query with support. Evidence through matching, picture selection, supported demonstration and short verbal responses. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Entry Level 2 (CBM217): Three learning outcomes: identify an example of good service and state its positive effect, identify an example of poor service and state its negative effect, and show positive greetings, give a question a customer may ask, respond appropriately and state what to do if a customer has a problem. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Entry Level 3 (CBM218): Three learning outcomes: give examples of good service and explain why it matters, give examples of poor service and explain its impact, and demonstrate verbal and non-verbal greetings, good service behaviours and a response to a familiar complaint, for example through role play and observation. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Level 1 (CBM219): Three learning outcomes: outline why good service matters, explain first impressions and outline the effects of poor service on customers and organisations, describe ways of communicating with customers, explain positive communication and describe how to adapt style, and demonstrate good service and respond to a query and a complaint following a policy. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Level 2 (CBM220): Three learning outcomes and 10 criteria: describe how good service builds confidence, compare good and poor service and explain the economic impact of poor service, explain first impressions and demonstrate one face to face, on the telephone and in writing, apply communication styles for different customers, and describe approaches to complaints, respond to a complaint and reflect on what went well and what could improve. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
Skills that use Online behaviour and online bullying
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Understanding online reviews and reputation
Level 1 learners outline how poor service affects customers and organisations, and the example says ignoring a customer may lead to complaints or negative online reviews. Entry Level 3 and Level 2 examples also mention bad reviews and lost reputation. Understanding that customers share experiences online, and that reviews last and spread, explains why poor service matters. These are examples, not requirements.
DCF: Identity, image and reputation, Health and well-being, Online behaviour and online bullying
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read 3 made-up online reviews of a cafe and say how each might make other customers feel.
- Year 8
- Pupils discuss whether a business should reply to a bad online review and write a calm, polite reply.
- Year 9
- Pupils investigate how one viral review affected a business and explain how online posts can be searched, copied and shared long after they are written.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 (CBM219), AC 1.3 indicative content, page 21; Level 2, AC 1.3, page 24
“may lead to complaints or negative online reviews”
Progression step 3
I can think critically about information shared online, e.g. the impact of sharing images and videos, metadata of images and videos.
I can identify the wider positive and negative influences of technology, e.g. on my life, on society, on the environment.
Progression step 4
I can understand that I have a digital footprint and that this information can be searched, copied and passed on.
I can understand the implications of online actions, including my digital footprint and the legal implications of sharing inappropriate material.
Good to know
- Each level is a separate 2 credit, 20 guided learning hour unit, CBM216 to CBM220: "Guided Learning Hours: 20" (Unit Content, pages 11 to 23; Qualification Guide, Qualification Units, page 22).
- Only one level counts in a qualification: "units with the same title at different levels are barred for completion within the same qualification" (Qualification Guide, Qualification Units, page 17).
- The provider writes the tasks, pre-course verification must confirm they cover every criterion, and "No partial award can be made if any assessment criteria is not met" (Assessment Approach, page 7).
- Evidence goes in a portfolio, digital or paper: "Wherever possible, e-portfolios are encouraged." Much of the evidence is role play and observation of practice (Assessment Approach, pages 7 to 10).
- The Welsh context is built in: greetings include "Bore Da", and the cross-cutting theme asks learners to think about customer service "in terms of living in Wales (ie communicating in Welsh) and outside Wales" (Entry Level 1, pages 12 to 13).
- Digital channels are examples only: Level 1 ways of communicating "could include" email and online messaging, and a Level 2 complaint "can be demonstrated in writing, in person or over the phone" (pages 21 and 25).
- A computer is a listed resource: "access to a computer or laptop for digital resources" (Physical Resources, page 6).
- Every level lists Literacy and Digital as its cross-curricular skills, written "Literacy / Digital" at Entry Level 1 (Unit Content, pages 13 to 25).
- The Entry Level 2 table of suggested assessment tasks is a word for word copy of the Entry Level 1 table (Assessment Approach, page 8).
- Level 2 indicative content labels two paragraphs "AC 1.3", the first of which is really AC 1.2, and says "how to creative a positive first impression" (page 24). Entry Level 1 has "AC 4.2 .2" and "show to help a customer" (page 13), and calls the Principles of Progression "Progress step" (page 11).
- The specification says nothing about the use of AI or about referencing sources. The text opens with the stray heading "Faith and Belief in the Community".
Links with other qualifications
Pearson and WJEC both have a Customer service unit at 20 hours, and both are rated low for digital; the Open Awards unit adds a Level 2 demonstration of first impressions face to face, by phone and in writing, and a structured reflection on a complaint. It sits closest to the WJEC VCSE and Foundation in Retail and Customer Service and to the hospitality and business strands of GCSE Business and GCSE Hospitality and Catering. Within the Open Awards suite it pairs with Work Experience and Enterprise Venture.
Source: Open Awards Skills for Work Unit Specification, Customer Service, Entry Level 1 to Level 2 (units CBM216 to CBM220).