Department for Education
User Support Agent (Apprenticeship)
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Manchester, North West England, M1 2WD
Job Summary
As a User Support Agent in DfE Teacher Services, you will work on the day-to-day operations across several user support desks within the team, carrying out first line support and ensuring that user queries are promptly and effectively responded to, keeping user needs at the heart of the team’s work.
Your actions will influence the customer experience and satisfaction levels within our services, requiring you to demonstrate excellent levels of customer service skills and behaviours. You need to quickly understand situations to enable you to form appropriate responses and create a customer focused experience. You need to know how to build trust with users and understand why this is important. You will become part of a close-knit team who work effectively and collaboratively with colleagues across all levels and from various multi-disciplinary teams so that we can fully support our users. We share opportunities for personal learning and development, present recommendations to the team on processes and constantly feedback improvements to support good practices.
See here for more information about apprenticeships
Job Description
The services/teams we support include:
- Becoming a teacher - which assists those interested in teaching.
- Claim Additional Payments for Teaching - which directly provides teachers incentive payments, minimising the burden on teachers and schools.
- Continual Professional Development - designed to allow schools to access and be paid for teacher professional development courses.
- Teacher Records System – a system that contains all the records of those who have gained a qualification in teaching.
- Pathways for International and Experienced Teachers – services that are designed to enable existing teachers or those from abroad in gaining further qualifications to teach in England.
As a Support Agent You Will Be Responsible For:
- Being an active member of the team during Stand-ups, Team Meetings, Workshops, Training Events, etc.
- Performing governance duties, such as Risk Log, Report Summaries etc.
- Completing and updating your mandatory training.
- Having strong computer literacy skills.
About The Apprenticeship
As this role includes completion of the Customer Service Level 3 Apprenticeship please check the eligibility requirements below using the apprenticeship standard: Customer service specialist / Skills England
- You must have lived in the UK for 3 years prior to apprenticeship start date and not be undertaking another apprenticeship at the same time.
- You must not already have a substantial amount of the skills and knowledge that is covered in the contents of the apprenticeship standard.
- You must not have already worked in a similar role, or your previous learning, and/or work experience covers the contents (Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours) of the apprenticeship standard.
Please Do Not Apply If:
- You already have all the skills and knowledge that is covered in the contents of the apprenticeship standard.
- You have already worked in a similar role, or your previous learning, and/or work experience covers the contents (Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours) of the apprenticeship standard.
At the enrolment stage, the individual's eligibility will be checked by the training provider.
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
- Able to communicate and maintain business relationships across multi-disciplinary teams to identify, prioritise and report on common issues raised for the continuous improvements of DfE services.
- Ability to understand and respond to complex enquiries in a timely and effective manner.
- Ability to recognise best practice and suggest improvements to ways of working.
- Excellent attention to detail.
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Alongside your salary of £32,581, Department for Education contributes £9,438 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.
As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.
You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.
Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.
Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.
As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
Stage 1- Written Application
To apply for this role, you will be required to provide a CV and Statement of Suitability.
Your CV should include details of your employment history, and the skills and experience gained in those roles. Your Statement of Suitability (max 500 words) should demonstrate how your experience meets the essential criteria listed above.
Stage 2 - Sift
We will use your CV and statement to assess your suitability for the role against the essential criteria listed in the person specification section above.
To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 500. Please adhere to this limit as anything over 500 words will not be taken into account.
In the event of a large volume of applications we will sift against the first criteria only.
Step 3 - Interview
At interview you will be asked questions to assess your experience in line with the essential criteria listed above.
Other Information
Interviews may be via Microsoft teams or face to face; the vacancy manager will confirm prior to the Interview. If virtual, please make sure you have access to Microsoft Teams software, where you will also need to have your camera turned on during your interview.
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In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.
This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment (opens in a new window).
Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:
- name/title
- educational institutions
- age
- gender
- email address
- postal address
- phone number
- nationality/immigration status
We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.
Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.
The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed a previous apprenticeship.
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check maybe carried out.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Department of Education of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks.DFE@education.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Department for Education do not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Candidates will be posted in merit order based upon location preference. Where more than one location is advertised you will be asked to state your preferred location.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
Terms and conditions of candidates transferring from ALBs and NDPBs
Bodies that are not accredited by the Civil Service Commission and are not able to advertise at Across Government on Civil Service jobs will be treated as external new starters and come into DfE on modernised terms and conditions with a salary at the band minimum.
Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission but do not have civil service status will be offered modernised terms and will not have continuous service recognised for leave or sickness benefits. Salaries should be offered at band minimum, but there is some flexibility where this would cause a detriment to the individual.
Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission and
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