Case Study

Big Lottery Fund is responsible for distributing half the money raised for good causes from the National Lottery. Up to the year 2009 this is anticipated to between £600 and £700 million.

Big Lottery Fund, formerly the Community Fund and New Opportunities Fund was officially launched on June 1st 2004. Big Lottery Fund aims to build on the experience and best practice of both organisations in order to simplify funding for the public and to ensure lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.

Big Lottery Fund provides funding to voluntary and health, education and environment projects, as well as large-scale regenerative projects. The organisation has offices throughout the country, staffed by teams who work with those who have a key interest in making sure the money goes to the people and areas that need it the most.

Big Lottery Fund employs more than 800 staff and aims to provide the highest levels of customer service to those applying for funding.

The Need for Customer Service
Big Lottery Fund has a large number of internal and external customers – excellent customer service is paramount for the organisation as they are providing a service under charter and they want applicants to to have a positive customer experience. The organisation has also signed up to 11 customer service standards for all distributors of Lottery funding.

In 2005, the Big Lottery Fund introduced a new training programme to ensure its staff understand and react to customers positively – the e-Learning BTEC Award in Customer Service – a Level 3 programme provided by Edexcel, e-assessment-4u and AdVal KeyKnowledge.

Thecla Condon, Learning Adviser from the Big Lottery Fund, commented;

“We had previously used an NVQ approach to customer service but the feedback from the learners illustrated that the programme did not relate to the public sector. We introduced the BTEC qualification with e-Learning and also incorporated a Workshop programme to give the learners a truly blended learning experience.”

“We particularly liked the assignment assessment method and the fact that we had a dedicated assessor throughout the programme.”

The Solution
The e-Learning BTEC Award in Customer Service delivers key customer service training – using e-Learning supported by a worldwide recognised qualification.

The initial roll-out to 15 learners focused primarily on grant officers in regional centres and staff on the Big Advice Line. As a national organisation, the learners were from different locations including Cardiff , London and Birmingham . Critical for the Big Lottery Fund was that trainees could undertake the same course from wherever they were based in the country. The ability for the learners to be able to apply the learning directly, through using the e-learning CD-ROMs and through their Intranet in their own workplace was seen as a key benefit, and reduced travelling time and costs.

Learners at the BTEC Induction Seminar for the Big Lottery Fund.
Also in the picture Thecla Condon from the Big Lottery Fund, John Hughes from the Customer Service Network and Linda Bickel from e-assessment-4u.

The programme, a nationally recognised qualification on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) covered the following Units:

The programme then breaks down into Modules, for instance Unit 1 is as follows:

Module 1 – Servicing the Customer
Module 2 – Roles and Organisations
Module 3 – Improvements to Customer Service

Learners on the programme have access to many Learning Topics under the Unit and Module structure; a few examples below for Unit 1, Module 1 are shown below:

Topic 1 – What is Customer Service?
Topic 2 – Building Customer Relationships
Topic 3 – Our Customers
Topic 4 – Dealing with Angry Customers

Examples of training pages:

The programme started in February 2005 with a mix of learner backgrounds and educational attainment.

Although supported through e-Learning, the programme is blended in its approach using a supportive learning environment and a schedule of 3 one-day workshops delivered by the Trade Association, the Customer Service Network. The programme is complemented by:

The e-Learning material includes interactive exercises, question banks, learning models and a high level of video to emphasise the soft skills required to complete the programme. Video elements included drama sequences, soft skills demonstrations as well as a game show to illustrate important customer service elements.

The learners all followed a set structure in completing the programme as follows:

BTEC Induction
At the Induction Seminar, learners are introduced to the learning programme, the qualification, and they are taken through the assignments. Learners are also introduced to their Assessor from e-assessment-4u who supports and assesses them throughout the programme.

All learners receive an Induction handbook with guidance notes, assignments, hints and tips on writing assignments, deadlines and contact details.

Learners also complete a Customer Service Skills Assessment to set a benchmark for the individual learner and also to track progress throughout the course and into the workplace. The results of the Customer Service Skills Assessment are also used to inform the content of the Workshops by identifying group areas for improvement such as a key competency, for example, ‘asking for a decision'.

Start the programme
Learners are given the learning materials together with the deadlines for the three Unit assignments. Deadlines for the Big Lottery Fund were set within a 6-month programme.

Learners attend 3 one-day workshops planned 3 weeks before the assignment deadlines to give them the support through the assessment. There is one workshop per Unit. Learners are also asked to complete e-Learning for each Unit prior to the workshop to ensure they are all at the same level of competence.

Submitting assignments, mentoring support and receiving grades
Learners complete assignments based on the Big Lottery Fund workplace. All assignments have been customised to the Big Lottery Fund so that their assignments are focused on the workplace and to improving the level of customer service.

e-assessment-4u, an approved Edexcel assessment centre (Centre Number: 55760) provides dedicated assessment for all learners. Learners can also refer to their Mentors and ask them to provide feedback on their assignments before submitting to e-assessment-4u.

Once submitted, learners receive grades that include referral, fail, pass, merit, and distinction. Learners also receive their grades back within 10 working days so they can reflect on their performance while the assignment is still fresh in their minds.

The Big Lottery Fund Programme Manager also receives a monthly management report detailing the progress of all learners.

Completing the e-Learning BTEC Award in Customer Service
After 6 months and successful completion of all Units, learners receive their certificates in a graduation ceremony. The programme will then be rolled out to customer facing staff within the Big Lottery Fund.

The Results
To date the Big Lottery Fund have completed two of the three Units. Unit 1 resulted in the majority of learners passing with many receiving a Merit or Distinction grade.

A learner on the programme commented:

“Although the programme is sometimes difficult, I am really enjoying the learning and the achievement of gaining a qualification. I have received a lot of support on the programme including mentoring, e-Learning with video, an assessor and workshops where we have all come together to focus on the assignments and what we need to do to achieve a pass or better.”

“The programme is really helping me in my role and is highlighting the need to use professional customer service skills when dealing with internal and external customers.”

The Big Lottery Fund is also introducing a culture of customer service excellence where the initial piloted learners are seen as achieving best customer service practice and championing this approach to other colleagues.

For more information

For further information on this programme and other e-qualifications from AdVal KeyKnowledge, please contact Client Services on:

Case Study - Big Lottery Fund

Meeting the needs of our Customers with the ‘e-Learning BTEC Award in Customer Services' – Pilot Results (May 2005)

For more information