Customer Services Officer - ( Ref : 6844 )

Natural England; York and North Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

Natural England is seeking a Customer Service Officer to provide professional, responsive support to customers in a role that blends enquiry handling, information gathering and service improvement. You will respond to calls and emails, work with subject matter experts, and help maintain clear, accessible knowledge resources.

The role requires collaboration across teams, a focus on first-contact resolution, and a commitment to high-quality customer service while using digital tools and adhering

Qualifications

• Experience 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, listen to customers and adapt approach.
• The ability to understand a customer’s perspective and manage difficult situations professionally.
• Strong organisational, planning and time-management skills to handle a varied workload and deadlines.
• Willingness to learn digital tools and systems including telephony and knowledge-management platforms.

Responsibilities

• Respond to customer enquiries by telephone and email, providing clear, accurate information and resolving issues at first contact where possible.
• Take ownership of customer contacts and progress enquiries with empathy and timeliness.
• Collaborate with teams to gather information and answer queries.
• Support complaint handling and maintain the customer service knowledge base.
• Assist with service improvements and administration related to caravan and camping exemption certificates.

Skills

Customer service experience

Communication skills

Empathy

Organisation

Digital confidence

Tools

Microsoft 365 Co-pilot

CRM systems

Job description

This position can be based at Bristol , Worcester or York.

Job Description

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 Co-pilot, 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:

• Customer service experience 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.

It would be helpful, but is not essential, if you have:

• Experience of handling complaints, correspondence or customer casework.
• Experience of gathering information from different sources to resolve an enquiry or issue.
• Experience of working in a busy customer service, contact-centre or operational delivery environment.
• Experience of using customer feedback or service information to improve processes or customer outcomes.
• Experience of using generative AI tools, such as Microsoft 365 Co-pilot, to support research, analyse information, draft communications or improve productivity while following appropriate governance, security and data-protection requirements.

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview. We now provide primary interview questions in advance for all formal recruitments.

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process. Please be aware that we reserve the right for roles that receive a high volume of applications to initially sift applications for one competence only.

• Technical Skills & Knowledge
• Personal Effectiveness
• Putting People at the Heart of the Environment
• Work Delivery

As with all roles in NE, these roles require office attendance of a minimum of 20% of the working time – one day per week for those who work full time, subject to any reasonable adjustments and/or existing contractual homeworking.

Technical Skills and Knowledge

• Understanding and experience of how to handle difficult situations for customers.
• Experience of customer service.

Personal Effectiveness

• Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective.
• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience.

Putting People at the Heart of our Environment

• Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England.
• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims.

Work Delivery

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines.