Details Reference number 357630 Salary £28,624 A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27% GBP Job grade Executive Officer Contract type Permanent Business area CC - Regulatory Services Type of role Contact Centre Working pattern Full-time Number of jobs available 7 Contents Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information Location Bootle, North West England, L20 7HS About the job Job summary Are you a great listener, who can quickly understand and resolve queries over the phone? Do you have experience in and passion for providing great customer service? Can you confidently explain challenging concepts without using jargon? As a Customer Services Advisor you will be the first point of contact for charity trustees, professional advisors and other stakeholders including members of the public. You will provide advice and guidance to support charities by telephone, email and letter. You will help customers who raise concerns about charities, guiding them through our processes and managing their expectations. Our Contact Centre operates 9am 5pm, Monday to Friday, and you will work in a fast-paced, customer-focussed environment where high standards of verbal and written communication are essential. You will work to agreed service levels and operational standards, be confident working in a digital environment and be comfortable working independently within a wider team. You will need to develop a solid understanding of work across the Commission, as well as sound technical knowledge, to be able to address a wide variety of customer queries, troubleshoot customer problems and take ownership to resolve queries. You will take pride in providing high quality advice and be able to adjust your approach to suit the audience you are interacting with. You will also demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence with a focus on seeking a resolution on first contact wherever possible to prevent further escalation. Key Responsibilities: Respond to customers, providing advice and answering queries about the Commissions online services, guidance, and website in the most efficient manner, by telephone or in writing. You will work within target timeframes and adhere to established business processes or guidance. Offer support across both the contact centre and the correspondence teams to answer enquiries and provide clarification about guidance and trustee responsibilities, in line with demand. Ensure that charities comply with their legal responsibilities to file annual returns and accounts, providing advice on what is required and assisting with accessing and navigating our online services. You will take decisions to resolve customer issues, using persuasion and negotiation to select a course of action. You will use your initiative, analytical skills and judgement to solve problems whenever possible and escalate to senior colleagues in complex or contentious cases after considering potential options. Explain complex information in a way that all customers can understand, adapting your style and tone to suit different audiences. You will demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence to deliver excellent customer service, de-escalating challenging situations and providing effective solutions. Person specification Ability Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Friendly, patient, empathetic and resilient with a can-do attitude. The ability to persuade and negotiate with customers and stakeholders. Experience Handle high volumes of tasks or calls in an environment where there are competing priorities and demands. Resolve complex customer queries and/or complaints with empathy and emotional intelligence. Using multiple computer systems to create/update and maintain customer records accurately. Technical Research and interpret guidance or legislation to respond to customers queries. Handle data and information sensitively in accordance with the business procedures and/or law. Working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications. Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Communicating and Influencing Working Together Making Effective Decisions Benefits Alongside your salary of £28,624, Charity Commission contributes £7,728 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. This is your chance to make a contribution that really matters and to make an impact in an organisation where your voice will be heard and your hard work noticed. Watch this short video to find out more about us. short video We operate a flexible hybrid working policy where office attendance is combined with homeworking days dependent on role and corporate requirements. We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly. We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring from all backgrounds and we aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We champion inclusion and wellbeing, aiming to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and has a sense of belonging. We do not discriminate on the basis of culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor. We offer access to the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme (employer contributions of 27.1%), far more than in the private sector, and a flexible, family-friendly environment. Additionally, you can look forward to other great benefits via our Perkbox and Edenred schemes. These include everything from an interest-free season ticket loan and bicycle loan (after two months) to discounts on gym membership, cinema tickets and restaurants. Please see the attached Charity Commission benefits document. A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30 days per year. The Charity Commissions operational ambition is to realise the Commissions values of being an expert regulator that is fair, balanced, and independent, which works in a way that is supportive, collaborative, and innovative to achieve our ambitions. We want to develop our capability to regulate charities to realise this goal and meet our statutory and public duties to ensure that charity in England and Wales can deliver maximum benefit to society in a way that upholds its reputation in the eyes of the public. Work at the Charity Commission and youll make a difference every day to: The 170,000 charities of all shapes and sizes that we regulate across England and Wales. The trustees we partner with and advise. The people and causes that benefit from the £10bn generously donated each year by the public. Find out more about working for us here. To note: Any move across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 may have implications on an employees ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience. As part of the application process as a minimum you are asked to complete a CV and statement of suitability. At interview you will be asked to do a task alongside being assessed on your technical knowledge and experience and the following behaviours:- Communicating and Influencing. Working Together. Making Effective Decisions. Interview Arrangements Interviews will be taking place on MS Teams. The sift is due to take place on 04/07/2024. Interviews will be held on 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th July 2024. We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates. At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills. We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process to manage numbers. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment. Behaviours The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge, and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application. You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation. You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills, and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people. When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did, what your thought process was and what was the result. This post is full time however those applicants who do or wish to work an alternative working pattern are welcome to apply. The preferred working pattern may or may not be available. You should discuss this with the vacancy holder. Reasonable Adjustment If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled persons, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via Charitycommissionrecruitment.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the Assistance required section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional. Reserve Lists If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 12-month reserve list as standard. During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order. Applying We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly. All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email Charitycommissionrecruitment.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions. Please note that late applications will not be accepted. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Concerns/Complaints The Charity Commissions recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance hrselfservicecharitycommission.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web page here. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality requirements This job is broadly open to the following groups: UK nationals nationals of the Republic of Ireland nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service