CSA Apprenticeship Case Study
CSA and Lowell – Award Winning Bespoke Apprenticeship Programming
The Credit Services Association (CSA) and Lowell, a leading debt collection company and long-standing CSA member, have jointly won the Excellence in Training award at the Collections and Vulnerability Awards 2025 and the Best Training Initiative award at the Credit and Collections Industry Awards 2025.
Run by Credit Strategy, the Excellence in Training award recognise the incredible resilience and innovation of collections professionals who are leading the way in tackling customer vulnerability.
Run by Credit Connect, the Best Training Initiative award recognises an outstanding delivery of a training course and how the initiative has demonstrated a positive impact whilst developing the careers of industry professionals.
The CSA’s Level 2 Credit Controller & Collector apprenticeship programme offered Lowell a 12-month blend of regular learning. The training aligned with Lowell’s long-established induction plan, ensuring new recruits gained industry-level insight while also learning Lowell’s specific way of working. This continuous learning approach created added value for both Lowell and the apprentices. As part of this unique programme, CSA and Lowell included Mental and Financial wellbeing, working with MyBnk, a youth financial literacy charity, to deliver engaging content. This resulted in all apprentices taking immediate action to improve their wellbeing, and using this knowledge to help Lowell’s customers.
"Sometimes (my apprenticeship) put me at an advantage to other people that already worked here, particularly handling difficult conversations with customers about credit and debt."
We visited Lowell as they celebrated several of their employees completing their Level 2 Credit Controller & Collector apprenticeships with the CSA.
During our visit, we had the opportunity to speak to some of the apprentices, to hear how their apprenticeship has benefited them, how they have been implementing the skills they developed into their day to day responsibilities, and what advice they would give to anyone considering an apprenticeship.
Video Transcript
What did you know about apprenticeships before starting this course.
Natasha Brownhill: I understood somewhat how they worked and that there would be some classroom style work, but also actual experience on the job. And it was something that I had always been interested in, to be fair, but I didn't have much knowledge on what it would look like in terms of the content of the apprenticeship or this specific one.
Was learning on the job beneficial to you?
Amy Midgely: Yeah, I found it incredibly helpful too, especially in this job. I think it definitely helps to have a wider knowledge into why we do a lot of the things that we're learning about, and it also helped me learn it to actually have to implement it into my day to day.
India Howard: I do quite enjoy learning. So doing a job that was new to me and, the field it’s in as well, I didn't know anything about finance, didn't know anything about credit files, so to learn through the job but also through the apprenticeship as well, that’s been quite fun, and I think the people that I've met doing as well, everyone else in my team, they've made it really enjoyable as well.
Did you have the opportunity to implement skills developed in workshops into your day-to-day responsibilities?
Natasha: Yeah, there were lots of different things that I learned through the workshops that I was able to use every day, and sometimes it put me at an advantage to other people that already worked here, particularly handling difficult conversations with customers about credit and debt. So it was definitely a positive to be able to use that information outside of the workshops.
How was your relationship with your line manager and your tutor?
Natasha: Both my line manager and Simon, my tutor, they were both really supportive, with different things. So if there's anything specifically about the apprenticeship, I could ask Simon and he'd be able to help me. And he was always available, even if, you know, it was his day off or if we sent him an email later on at night, he'd always reply to us first thing in the morning. But it just depended sort of what support we needed, there was always somebody that we would be able to speak to, whether it be from work or through Simon.
How did you feel after completing your apprenticeship
India: Yeah, I'm proud of myself. Now that I have done it, I've passed it, I am proud of myself. I'm proud to have done it. And it's a bit of a relief to know that I did well in it as well, because I know that I'm doing well at the job. So I hope the coursework I was doing, you know, it was worth it at the end of the day.
What advice would you give to someone thinking of doing an apprenticeship?
Natasha: I think be confident with it. I think it's built my confidence a lot since the start. But if you don't believe that you can do it, then you will be able to do it. So you just need, faith in yourself and your work.
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