Skills for Work: Customer Service
Customer service is a Pearson Skills for Work unit about good customer service in work contexts such as retail, hospitality and public services, and the communication skills to put it into practice and deal with problems. 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. Literacy is the heart of the unit: learners name and explain customer service skills, Level 2 learners explain principles using linking words, and every level speaks and listens to customers in a role play or real activity. Numeracy demand is low, as no criterion asks for any calculation.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- High
- Amount of numeracy 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.
Skills that use Connectives and syntax
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Explaining customer service principles with linking words
Level 2 learners explain customer service principles across at least three different contexts, and the guidance says they do so using linking words such as this means that and this results in. This is required by the Level 2 assessment criterion and can be written or spoken.
Literacy: Connectives and syntax, Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils complete sentences that begin When staff smile at customers, this means that, choosing an ending from a word bank.
- Year 8
- Pupils write a paragraph explaining one customer service rule, such as listening carefully, using at least three linking phrases like as a result and this leads to.
- Year 9
- Pupils write an explanation of three customer service principles in different workplaces, linking cause and effect in each paragraph and connecting the paragraphs.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 12, assessment criterion Level 2, page 63; Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 2, page 64
“can explain, by using words that link such as 'this means that', 'this results in'”
Progression step 3
I can use an increasing range of connectives to organise my ideas in sentences, paragraphs and whole texts.
I can use paragraphs and make links between them.
Progression step 4
I can use a range of connectives specifically when organising my ideas in whole texts for different purposes.
I can use summary, discussion of issues, detailed explanations and logic when covering a topic.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 12 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).
- The Level 2 guidance names a specific literacy feature: learners explain "by using words that link such as 'this means that', 'this results in' etc." (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 64).
- Spoken performance needs a record: "achievement cannot be inferred from performance", and evidence can include "observation records, witness testimony, and products of learners' work" (Assessment requirements, page 9).
- Pearson maps the unit to Languages, Literacy and Communication: "Expressing ourselves through languages is key to communication" (Statements of 'what matters' mapping, page 66).
- Pearson's Annexe C lists "income, profit" as numeracy links (page 120), but no assessment criterion asks for any number work, so numeracy is not mapped here.
- AI must be acknowledged: "If AI is used, the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (page 65).
- The Level 1 guidance contains a slip, "in least two different contexts" (page 64), which should read at least.
Links with other qualifications
Compared with the WJEC Customer service unit, which is also 20 GLH and rated high for literacy, Pearson's version has one assessment criterion per level and no separate criteria on teamwork or complaints, but asks Level 2 learners to explain principles with linking words across three contexts and to adapt to different customers. Speaking, listening and explaining in a work setting build the skills of GCSE English Language and Literature, and role play links with GCSE Drama. The unit links closely with the WJEC VCSE and Foundation in Retail and Customer Service, and Pearson's contexts of 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.
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.