Skills for Work: Customer Service
Customer service is a Pearson Skills for Work unit about good customer service in different work contexts such as retail, hospitality and public services, and the communication skills to put it into practice and deal with problems. Learners list, outline or explain customer service skills and principles and take part in a role play or real customer service activity. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, achieved at one level from Entry 1 to Level 2. Digital demand is low: no criterion needs digital work, and digital skills sit only in researching contexts online, presenting findings and referencing sources and AI.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- 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 (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3: list familiar examples, outline basic skills, or identify simple skills and their purpose, and take part in a customer service activity, from a simple supported activity at Entry 1 to contributing to a role play or real activity at Entry 3. There are no mandatory evidence requirements; the centre sets and marks the assessment and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describe the importance of customer service in at least two work contexts and demonstrate at least three appropriate skills in practical situations (Level 1), or explain its principles across at least three contexts and deliver effective customer service, adapting to different situations and customer needs (Level 2). The centre sets and marks the assessment and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
The digital skills in this qualification
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Researching customer service in different work contexts
Level 1 learners describe why customer service matters in at least two contexts, such as retail, hospitality or public services, and Level 2 learners explain its principles across at least three different contexts. Pearson lists online search as a digital link, so learners can research how real organisations serve customers, but the criteria do not require online research.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils visit the customer help pages of a local supermarket website and list three ways the shop helps its customers.
- Year 8
- Pupils search for the customer promises of a shop, a leisure centre and a council service, and record each in a table with the web address.
- Year 9
- Pupils research how a hotel and a bus company handle customer feedback online, judge which source is more trustworthy, and note the reasons.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 12, assessment criteria Level 1 and Level 2, page 63; Essential information for assessment decisions, page 64; Annexe C, page 120
“customer service principles across at least three different (varied) contexts”
Progression step 3
I can adjust keywords and search techniques to find relevant information.
I can begin to reference sources used in my work, and consider if content is reliable.
Progression step 4
I can search a variety of sources using relevant search techniques with increased complexity.
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
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Presenting customer service principles digitally
Pearson's mapping lists presentation and report as literacy links and presentation as a digital link, so learners may present what good customer service looks like as slides or a short report. The criteria only require learners to list, outline, describe or explain, in any format the centre chooses, so producing digital content is suggested, not assessed.
DCF: Creating digital content, Evaluating and improving digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils make a one page poster in Adobe Express showing four good customer service behaviours, such as smiling and saying thank you, with a picture for each.
- Year 8
- Pupils build a short slide presentation comparing customer service in a shop and a café, with one slide for each setting and a summary slide.
- Year 9
- Pupils create a narrated presentation explaining three customer service principles for new staff, and explain why they chose the layout and images for that audience.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Annexe C, page 120; Unit SfW 12, Essential information for assessment decisions, page 64
“read, write, discussion, presentation, report, research, describe, explain”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of software to select, produce and edit a range of multimedia components for a purpose, such as:
- text and images, e.g. format text (bold, underline, italics, highlight); insert and edit text boxes; columns; use refine tools (spellchecker, find and replace); word wrap; crop; alter size and shape; alter images; add effects; trim and split sound and video clips; transitions; onion skin
- presentation, e.g. page orientation; animations; transitions; remove and alter images; use background; use action buttons to create hyperlink; embed objects.
I can use software tools to enhance the outcomes for specific audiences.
Progression step 4
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
I can justify the reasons for choices and explain the advantages and disadvantages of the different digital outputs I create.
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Acknowledging sources and AI in evidence
Learners must certify that their evidence is their own and reference any sources and any artificial intelligence they used, and using AI tools without acknowledging them is malpractice. This applies at every level and is a requirement of the assessment, not unit content. It matters when learners take examples of customer service policies from company websites.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils copy a shop's customer promise into their notes and write the web address underneath it.
- Year 8
- Pupils rewrite a company's customer service policy in their own words and add a reference to the page they used.
- Year 9
- Pupils use an AI chatbot to suggest role play scenarios, keep the ones they adapt, and write an acknowledgement saying what the AI produced and what they changed.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 12, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 65
“they have clearly referenced any sources and any artificial intelligence used”
Progression step 3
I can understand that copying the work of others and presenting it as my own is plagiarism.
I can cite sources when researching and explain the importance of this, e.g. create simple lists for the referencing of digital and offline sources.
Progression step 4
I can act responsibly as creator and user of creative work, e.g. exploring decisions that creators make when exercising their creative rights and responsibilities, giving consideration to ethical, real-life issues.
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 12 in the "Exploring opportunities" group and the unit summary lists it at 20 GLH (Unit summary, page 5), the same size as the WJEC Customer service unit.
- A unit counts once: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Learners must take part in an activity, not only write about it, and "achievement cannot be inferred from performance" (Assessment requirements, page 9), so a role play needs an observation record or other evidence the verifier can see.
- Evidence format is open: "no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 64), and "No resources are explicitly prohibited for the assessment of this unit" (page 65).
- AI must be acknowledged: "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 65).
- The unit content, which the specification says is compulsory, is not printed in it: it "can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 64).
- Pearson's own mapping lists a numeracy link of "income, profit" (Annexe C, page 120), but no assessment criterion asks for any calculation.
- The document has slips: the Level 1 guidance reads "in least two different contexts" (page 64), section 5 says "please refer to Section 6 Glossary" (page 11) though the glossary is section 7, and this Skills for Work specification refers to "our Skills for Life qualifications" when describing assignment briefs (page 8).
Links with other qualifications
Compared with the WJEC Customer service unit, which is also 20 GLH, Pearson's version has one assessment criterion per level rather than three learning outcomes, and it has no separate criteria on teamwork or on handling complaints; instead Level 1 and Level 2 learners must cover customer service across two or three work contexts and adapt to different customers and situations. Digital demand is low in both. The unit sits closest to the WJEC VCSE and Foundation in Retail and Customer Service, and Pearson's examples of retail, hospitality and public services link it to the WJEC VCSE in Hospitality and Catering and the VCSE in Public Services. GCSE Business covers why customer service matters to a business, and the WJEC Skills Suite unit Enterprise Venture also involves serving customers.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 12: Customer service.