Customer Contact Centre Agent

Job summary

Together, His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO), the General Register Office (GRO), and the Citizenship Service, are responsible for the issuing of British passports across the globe, overseeing the system for registering births, adoptions, civil partnerships, marriages and deaths in England and Wales, and the registration or naturalisation of new British citizens.

The Customer Service Management Team (CSMT) are responsible for all customer enquiries for His Majesty’s Passport office. Enquiries are received via multiple routes (telephone, email or post) from customers both within the UK and overseas. CSMT processes over 600 thousand customer contacts per year.

HM Passport Office is undergoing a period of transformation with an aspiration of further improving our customer service by becoming a modern digital business. It is an exciting time to work in a part of government that touches the lives of the vast majority of citizens.

Further information about HM Passport Office is available on GOV.UK.

Job description

As a Customer Contact Officer, you will be responsible for delivering a variety of customer focused activities within a customer service environment, to support the wider HM Passport Office operational network.

The Customer Service Management Team is located in Southport and our opening hours are between 8:00 – 18:00, Monday – Friday.

Key Responsibilities

As part of a supportive and welcoming team, you will provide excellent customer service in a telephony environment:

As part of your daily responsibilities, you will:

• Make and receive customer calls and emails in a contact centre environment while using a headset.
• Handle telephony and email enquiries, complete follow-up actions, and escalate cases where required.
• Manage sensitive and sometimes challenging customer interactions professionally, providing accurate, timely and easy-to-understand information.
• Provide advice and guidance on complex nationality, eligibility and procedural enquiries, ensuring a high-quality customer experience through the application of HMPO standards, policies and processes.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of relevant legislation, policies, procedures and security requirements.
• Take responsibility for personal attendance, performance and development while demonstrating HMPO values and complying with all HMPO policies and procedures.
• Resolve customer issues fairly and effectively, supporting continuous improvement and enhancing the overall customer experience.
• Handle, process, store and dispose of customer documents and sensitive information securely, in line with HMPO security and data protection requirements.

Note: An employee may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of their skill, competence and training.

Working Pattern

The full-time working week in CSMT is 37 hours with a 36-minute daily lunch break. Full-time shifts are therefore 8 hours including lunch break. Your shift will be confirmed upon offer of post.

This role is available on a full-time basis. This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 4 days/ 30 hours per week due to business requirements.

Training

During the initial 5 weeks of your employment, you are required to participate in, 100% office-based, full-time training. Afterwards, upon review of your performance and quality, the opportunity to undertake hybrid working may begin.

Please be aware that the current office in Southport will close by 2030, and no decision has been taken where the new office will be located.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

This role is suitable for someone who has a passion for delivering excellent customer service, working in a team to deliver tangible, timely results and wanting to make a difference to meet the needs of the public.

We are looking for candidates who:

• Have experience in providing excellent customer service, with a focus on resolving queries first time through effective use of appropriate communication channels.
• Can gain a clear understanding of customers’ needs and expectations by listening and asking questions to deliver a high-quality service.
• Can place the customer at the centre of operations and work to resolve customer queries at the first point of contact.
• Have excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Can confidently manage potentially difficult and challenging situations.
• Flexible in their approach to work and successfully perform a range of multi-skilled duties.
• Digitally competent; able to navigate multiple IT systems

Desirable Criteria

• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office packages.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
• Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.
• See more of our benefits on our careers website.

Things you need to know

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.

<