Customer Service Officer

The City Helpdesk (CHD) is Portsmouth City Council’s main customer contact centre and the first point of contact for residents and visitors.The team handles over 130,000 calls a year across more than 20 council services, as well as email enquiries, contact forms, reception duties at the Civic Offices, in‑person support, cashiers, and corporate complaints.

The Role

If you're passionate about improving the experience of residents and visitors in Portsmouth, this role offers the chance to make a real difference.

As aCustomer Services Officer, you will:

• Start by handling telephone enquiries and written correspondence.
• Progress to reception duties and dealing with more complex written enquiries, including social media responses.
• Support customers by resolving issues directly, following procedures, or identifying and liaising with the correct internal teams.
• Promote excellent customer service and contribute to the council’s digital channel‑shift strategy.
• Help ensure that even in a fast‑changing environment, customers receive high‑quality support.

Full training is provided, but you’ll also need confidence in handling unexpected or unclear enquiries.

The ideal candidate

You will have/be

• Strong passion for delivering excellent customer service.
• Confident managing enquiries via telephone, email, and face‑to‑face.
• Experience dealing with challenging situations or individuals.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Flexible, organised and able to remain calm under pressure.
• Active listening skills, empathy, and a non‑judgemental approach.
• A genuine team player who builds positive, supportive working relationships.
• Problem‑solving ability and willingness to take initiative where needed.
• Creative thinking and confidence to identify when processes aren’t working and escalate issues appropriately.

Please ensure that you download and read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.

Hybrid Working: Working in Civic for probation period, once passed may work 1 day per week WFH where business needs allow.

Contact Details for an Informal Discussion:If you have any questions, or would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact : Christine Thomas - christine.thomas@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Interview date: Week commencing 23rd March 2026

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete apersonal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person'points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills.This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal

We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under our corporate commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.