BSI Consumer & Public Interest Network
Vacancy for Consumer Coordinator for CPI Services group
Services are used by everyone, but do you know what makes a service good and do you know what the consumer issues are for this area? Many people think you can’t define good service – ‘you know it when you see it’ – but did you realize there are now many standards for services? Would you like to lead a group of highly committed and enthusiastic consumer volunteers working in this area?
BSI Service standards are written by committees of service providers, consumers and other relevant stakeholders. As services now represent 80 % of GDP for the UK, it’s important for standards to help providers address the problems that consumers frequently experience with service delivery, including quality of information, training and complaints procedures. Standards do this across a range of different kinds of service, such as energy, postal and other delivery services, health and social care.
See our consumer leaflets related to Services on the BSI website including: ‘Adventurous activities’, ‘Customer services’, ‘Inclusive services provision’ and ‘Complaints’.
How many of these services do the providers do well? Does the challenge of making excellent services the norm appeal to you? Then you’ll enjoy getting involved in standards development for the Consumer & Public Interest Network!
About the BSI Consumer & Public Interest Network
The BSI Consumer & Public Interest Network (CPIN) is a group of creative people who want to get things right and make things easier and safer for all consumers. Through the standards development process, we represent ordinary consumers. The CPI Network consists of three main groups and all the members are volunteers who are based in the UK, but outside of BSI:
- The CPISAC, a strategy group, comprising senior representatives from relevant organizations (e.g. Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, Which?)
- Consumer Coordinators for each of the topic areas
- Consumer Representatives (who sit on committees and report back), background experts, and a Disabled Experts Reference Group
As well as looking at UK issues on BSI committees, we also work with our European and international colleagues at ANEC and COPOLCO, and are involved in hundreds of standards projects.
Our current CPIN priorities are:
- Inclusivity – Older people, Disabled people and Children’s Interests
- Security, Privacy & Identity – includes online safety
- Sustainability – includes environment, energy (product efficiency)and social responsibility
- Wellbeing – includes behavioural risk, product safety and healthcare
- Services – includes financial services, health and social care services
The volunteers and experts in CPIN are grouped according to those priorities and we are currently looking for someone to coordinate the activities of our Services group.
About the role
Consumer Coordinators must have good people skills and good contacts, as the key component of this job is coordination of Reps’ activity in the particular priority group (in this case Services) and liaison with BSI staff in the Consumer & Public Interest Unit (CPIU) and Standards Development, as well as external experts. Each of our Consumer Coordinators has up-to-date background and specific knowledge relating to their area. Coordinators meet four times a year to discuss work priorities, as well as attending two meetings of the whole network and relevant training sessions and committee meetings.
The Consumer Coordinator role attracts a small honorarium (presently £3,500 p.a.) and, of course, your travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses are paid, when you go to meetings for us in the UK and abroad. The time commitment is approximately 35 days p.a. (including c.12 days of meetings).
Like the sound of it?
Please email the CPI Unit if you would like to apply:
Deadline: 20 February 2015
For more information about us, see:
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