Fraud Prevention Review

I joined as part of the Fraud prevention team, the basis of the role is answering phone calls from customers, answering queries and providing advice to those that have been a victim of fraud/scams and raising cases when needed.

The job role itself has made me much more confident in my customer services skills, primarily as a result of having to communicate with people from all backgrounds, demographics etc. Constant improvements are made to analytical and problem solving skills through the need to profile customers and their accounts to provide them with relevant advice. The apprenticeship hasn't added anything beyond this.

The programme feels very disjointed from the job role. As part of the Apprenticeship programme I had to complete an exam that held little to no relevance to the work I do on a day to day basis. The additional exercises (carried out in a more course work style) also don't seem to add much to the job. The work primarily consists of writing about actions I have taken within my job role and trying to loosely relate them to the objectives that need to be met. A combination of needing to learn a significant about of information irrelevant to the job role for the exam and carrying out course work that simply involves writing about things I do anyway makes the whole thing feel like an unnecessary add on to an already stressful role, and takes time away that could otherwise be used to learn new skills or take on additional responsibilities.

There have been multiple instances of poor communication, whether that be between BPP and ourselves or BPP and NatWest. To begin with sessions designed to help with the work were put in at times outside of the working hours of myself and others within my team also on the apprenticeship resulting in us being unable to attend - to BPP's credit this was rectified and a different time was organised for us to attend these sessions. There was however further instances where emails were sent to notify of meetings being put in, where BPP included that line managers and been advised, despite the being unaware when questioned about time being put into schedules, I do not know if this was a mishap on BPP's side or NatWest. The structure has been okay, but again the several layers of those involved in the apprenticeship makes it difficult to get clarity on queries, with those at NatWest saying that BPP need to answer certain queries and BPP stating it would need to be NatWest, combined with the Exam then being operated by a third organisation made it seem that no area was really sure what the others could help with.

The allotted on the job time has been provided to support with completing the work. The way that the time was scheduled within the week was then changed by NatWest one week with no prior warning or explanation as to why this was done, the new way the time was set out doesn't really work for myself but with no communication that this change was being made there was no chance to discuss this. Again the other issue is that when queries arise around the apprenticeship, those within NatWest don't have the answers and refer back to the provider, BPP, for assistance. The uncertainty that this resulted in caused multiple people on by programme to go as far as leaving the job all together.

support calls are put in to help with feedback and ongoing support with the course work. meetings can be arranged on top of the check in sessions that can be arranged around submission dates and deadlines. This is fine for the work put in place by the training provider themselves as they can provide direct assistance for what is needed to meet goals. problems arise when it comes to areas such as the exam, as this was run externally to BPP, so although they could provide access to resources that seemed relevant to the exam, when type of questions and knowledge needed was different to expected, limited support could be given beyond what was already provided. Some people were unable to complete the exam with the resources and help that was provided, only for a review with the external company running it leading to a complete removal or altering of around 20% of the questions, completely outside of BPP's control, meaning those who had not yet made there attempts were able too from this point with the changes, meanwhile some of those who had already made attempts before the changes and been unsuccessful, were led to leave the job altogether due to this being a requirement for completing the programme.

the additional qualification does not provide any benefit to performance of the job role itself, as mentioned previously the exam completed as part of this qualification was largely unrelated to the role I carry out meaning the information that had to be learnt to pass has no bearing on my day to day role. The course work that is also required consists of simply writing about things that I have done within the job, trying to relate these to set outcomes that aren't tailored towards the role I do. Essentially I carry out the job role the same way that I would if I wasn't completing the additional qualification, it does not provide any additional skills or knowledge that myself or anyone else carrying out the role develops without it.

There are additional activities available through the engagement team and regularly some form of charity or fund raising event to participate in. Networking events are promoted however I haven't got too much experience with these and it does rely on being able to get the time agreed within a busy schedule.

Yes

I would recommend NatWest, the job itself can be challenging at times but provides skills that can be transferred to pretty much any future job role you may want to move into. The pay is also a positive, with a competitive starting wage and additional benefits available.

its worth applying, if I was able to make the decision again I would join either directly or through an agency and not join on an apprenticeship. The additional work needed as part of the programme and the qualification received as a result don't provide much value to the job role.