6844 - Customer Services Officer - Bristol

Natural England; West of England; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Natural England is recruiting a Customer Services Officer in Bristol to provide a professional, responsive and accessible service to our customers. You will handle enquiries by phone and email, guiding users through Natural England's services and policy context with clear, empathetic communication.

You will collaborate with national and area teams to gather information, contribute to knowledge base updates, and support complaint handling while driving service improvements and efficiency.

Qualifications

• Experience of delivering a high-quality service to customers or stakeholders, including responding to enquiries and helping resolve problems.
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain information clearly.
• Empathy and customer focus; ability to manage difficult or sensitive situations professionally.
• Organisation and time-management skills; ability to manage a varied workload and meet deadlines.
• Confidence using IT and digital systems; willingness to learn how to use telephone, contact-management and knowledge-management tools.

Responsibilities

• Respond to enquiries by telephone and email, taking ownership of each customer contact and resolving enquiries at the earliest opportunity.
• Work with colleagues and subject matter experts to gather information and provide clear responses.
• Support complaint handling and maintain customer service information.
• Contribute to wider team delivery and improvement projects, including maintenance of knowledge bases.
• Explore the appropriate use of digital tools to improve productivity and customer service while complying with data-protection requirements.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Empathy

Organisation

Digital confidence

Job description

6844 - Customer Services Officer - Bristol

Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive. Whether you're drawn to hands‑on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.

Our Role

Natural England is the Government's adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do this working through and with others.

Strategic Outcomes for Nature

Recovering Nature- Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.

Building Better Places- Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.

Improving Health and Wellbeing- Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.

Delivering Security through Nature- Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at:

Natural England's Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK

The Role

Customer Services provides a vital connection between Natural England and the people, organisations and communities we serve.

The team manages a varied range of customer contact, including general and operational enquiries, complaints and correspondence. It also helps Natural England learn from customer feedback, improve its services and provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience.

No two days are the same. You will respond to different enquiries, help customers navigate Natural England's services and work with colleagues across the organisation to find clear and practical solutions.

This is an exciting time to join the team. Customer Services is continuing to develop its role across Natural England, providing opportunities for you to contribute to service improvements, influence how we work and help shape the future customer experience.

We welcome applications from people who can bring relevant customer service, communication, administration, case‑management or operational delivery experience and apply it effectively in a new environment.

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

As a Customer Service Officer, you will help provide a professional, responsive and accessible service to Natural England's customers.

You will respond to enquiries by telephone and email, taking ownership of each customer contact and seeking to resolve enquiries at the earliest opportunity. You will work with colleagues and subject matter experts across Natural England to gather accurate information and provide clear, timely and customer‑focused responses.

You will also support complaint handling, maintain customer service information and contribute to wider team activities, including improvement projects and the administration of caravan and camping exemption certificates.

Respond to customer enquiries

Respond to enquiries by telephone and email, providing clear and accurate information and aiming to resolve enquiries at the first point of contact wherever possible.

Use Natural England's knowledge base, customer contact systems and other approved digital tools to support efficient and consistent customer service.

Take ownership of customer contacts

Take responsibility for progressing customer enquiries and provide a professional, empathetic and timely service.

Listen carefully to customers, recognise their individual needs and explain information in a way that is clear and appropriate for the audience.

Work collaboratively to resolve enquiries

Liaise with national and area teams, subject matter experts and other colleagues to gather the information needed to answer customer enquiries.

Help maintain and improve the customer service knowledge base so that information remains accurate, accessible and useful.

Investigate and coordinate Tier 1 complaint responses by gathering relevant information, maintaining accurate records and helping ensure responses are fair, clear and provided within the required timescales.

Contribute to wider team delivery

Support projects and service improvements across the Customer Service team. This will include assisting with the administration and processing of caravan and camping exemption certificates.

You will also be encouraged to explore the appropriate use of digital and AI-enabled tools, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, to improve productivity and customer service while following relevant information‑management, security and data‑protection requirements.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

We are looking for candidates who can demonstrate the following essential criteria.

Experience of delivering a high‑quality service to customers or stakeholders, including responding to enquiries and helping resolve problems.

Communication and interpersonal skills

Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain information clearly, listen to customers and adapt your approach to different people and situations.

Empathy and customer focus

The ability to understand a customer’s perspective, represent their needs appropriately and manage difficult or sensitive situations professionally.

Organisation and work management

Good organisational, planning and time‑management skills, with the ability to manage a varied workload, prioritise activities and meet agreed deadlines.

Digital confidence and willingness to learn

Confidence using IT and digital systems, together with a willingness to learn how to use Natural England's telephony, contact‑management and knowledge‑management systems.