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 Questioning
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Listening to customers and adapting to their needs
Entry 2 learners show skills such as listening, and Level 2 learners identify, gather and use relevant information to adapt independently to different customers and situations. Learners listen carefully, check what the customer wants and change what they say and how they say it. This is required by the Level 2 criterion.
Literacy: Listening for meaning, Questioning, Purpose, Collaborative talk
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils listen to a recorded customer request and write down what the customer wants and one question they would ask to check.
- Year 8
- Pupils role play helping three customers with different needs, such as an older visitor, a child and someone in a hurry, and say how they changed their language each time.
- Year 9
- Pupils serve a customer whose needs change partway through a role play, ask questions to gather the new information, and adapt their response, then reflect on what they changed.
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, Entry 2 and Level 2, page 64
“identify, gather and use relevant information to inform actions independently adapting to customer needs and situations”
Progression step 3
I can listen to, understand, infer, interpret and recall the general meaning of what I have heard.
I can respond to others’ points of view by seeking clarity, summarising and explaining what I have heard, read or seen.
Progression step 4
I can understand and analyse general meaning and implied ideas.
I can organise talk effectively to respond to how listeners are reacting by adapting what I say and how I say it.
Progression step 5
I can respond confidently to how listeners react, adapting my language in a wide range of contexts and for different purposes.
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Using communication to deal with problems
The unit aims to develop the communication skills to deal with problems, and Level 2 learners adapt to different situations. Unlike the WJEC unit, no Pearson criterion names complaints, so handling problems is taught through the compulsory unit content in the Teaching and Learning Support document rather than assessed in its own right.
Literacy: Questioning, Purpose
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils practise saying sorry and offering help in a short role play where a customer's order is wrong.
- Year 8
- Pupils role play a customer returning a faulty item, summarising the problem back to the customer before offering a solution.
- Year 9
- Pupils role play calming an unhappy customer, responding to their points with sensitivity, and evaluate in a group which phrases helped most.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 12, Purpose and Aim, page 63
“develop the communication skills to put them into practice and to deal with problems”
Progression step 3
I can respond to others’ points of view by seeking clarity, summarising and explaining what I have heard, read or seen.
I can organise talk so that different audiences in different contexts can follow what is being said, including using formal language.
Progression step 4
I can respond to others' points of view with confidence and sensitivity, summarising and evaluating what I have heard, read or seen.
I can organise talk effectively to respond to how listeners are reacting by adapting what I say and how I say it.
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.