The new initiative is part of an EU-backed training scheme called “Skills Support for the Workforce”, and awards staff who successfully complete the course with a Level 2 NVQ Certificate in Customer Service at the end of it.

The qualification has been made available to the group’s clerical and customer-facing staff and typically takes around six months to achieve. The training is designed to deliver a series of benefits to the organisation and its customers such as:

• Improved customer perception of the business
• Improved staff retention
• A more motivated workforce
• Improved levels of customer service and longevity.

IFC said the new customer service qualification is seen as an integral part of the group’s ongoing development and its continued investment in its staff.

Sales director Paul Chater commented: ‘The first thing to say is that we haven’t launched our new training initiative because we believe our staff are not very good at customer service. The reverse is actually true and we have every confidence in them.

‘What we wanted to do was provide our very hard-working people with the opportunity to achieve a recognised qualification in customer service as tangible proof of how good they actually are in providing our customers with the very highest level of service.

‘Over the initial stages of the courses, the trainers have told us how impressed they have been with the levels of passion, commitment and skills that our staff have demonstrated, and the knowledge levels that they have shown.

‘Although it’s still early days yet, the courses have been very well received and attendance has been very high across the group,’ he added.