Department: Quality Funding and Compliance - Delivery
Location: Home based, UK
Reports to: Head of Performance
Hours: 37.5 per week
Salary: (Depending on experience)
Role Overview
The Funding & Compliance Coordinator supports the delivery of compliant Apprenticeship provision by ensuring all data and learner records strictly adhere to Department for Education (DfE) funding rules. This role focuses on maintaining accurate ILR data, setting up and updating systems (including the Apprenticeship Service), validating evidence throughout the learner journey, and offering day-to-day guidance to the wider team.
Key Responsibilities1. ILR Management- Help prepare and submit monthly ILR updates for the Apprenticeships provision.
- Fix Data Lock (DLOCK) errors and ILR rule violations to ensure clean funding submissions.
- Process all key changes in the learner journey on the ILR, including Starts, Gateway sign-offs, Out of Funding Extensions and Changes of Circumstances (Achievers, Withdrawals, Breaks in Learning, Returns to Learning, Programme Transfers, Change of Employer and Redundancies).
- Support with the set up of learners on the digital Apprenticeship Service, to enable timely funding claims.
- Review and clear monthly PDSAT reports.
- Audit learner evidence packs regularly to ensure they are compliant with the funding rules.
- Run detailed checks on ILR data to proactively identify and rectify errors early.
- Complete monthly funding & compliance checks and share findings with managers.
- Help prepare evidence for audits, Ofsted inspections, EQA processes and Matrix assessments.
- Work with the Quality team on joint sampling activities.
- Maintain full compliance with funding rules throughout the learner journey by following internal processes, validating required documentation, and retaining audit-ready evidence.
4. Business Support & Continuous Improvement
- Serve as a helpful contact for colleagues across the business who have funding & compliance questions.
- Support and guide team members on funding & compliance processes.
- Keep up to date with changing Apprenticeship funding rules by attending sector training and events.
- Develop and maintain positive working relationships with internal stakeholders.
- Attend and complete any mandated training or meetings to ensure continuous professional development.
- To support any ad-hoc duties or requests that may be reasonably required to successfully carry out this role or to support the business‘ needs.
Candidate Specification
Essential
- Proven experience of working within a similar role, in a data and compliance team within the Skills sector.
- Excellent understanding and knowledge of funding rules and audit partners (DfE/DWP) for Apprenticeship qualifications.
- Strong skills and experience of using MIS and reporting systems such as Aptem/PICS/Maytas.
- Experience of DAS/PDSATs and other key DfE platforms
- Advanced Excel/Google Suite knowledge
Desirable
- Self-Management
- Effective Communication
- Completer / finisher with thorough follow up skills
- Results orientated
- Builds Relationships & rapport across a wide range of internal & external stakeholders
- Flexibility & Adaptability
Company Benefits:
- Pension with 4% matched contributions, opportunity to opt into salary sacrifice scheme
- 25 days holiday + Flexi bank holidays + 1 day off on your birthday
- A day for volunteering
- Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave
- Health & Wellbeing allowance of up to £30 per month
- Annual Summer and Xmas events
- Company socials including everything from Cambridge College formals, pub nights to team building events
- CPD Allowance alongside quarterly reflections to ring fence time for development and growth
- Private medical insurance and cash plan
- Holiday buy back scheme (up to 10 days p/a)
- Employee Assistance Programme with a dedicated company counsellor
Background to our Organisation
We are an education technology company that enables corporate and government organisations to achieve their business goals by educating their workforce with critical digital transformation skills to succeed in the AI era.
We deliver unique and innovative professional education that is accelerating the digital transformation of our clients, advancing the careers of their employees, helping people get into work and closing the digital skills gap. We are in a sector that is crucial to the economy and workforce, with a lot of opportunity for change and innovation. We are at the cutting edge of teaching applied data and digital skills, with our unique patented learning platform EDUKATE.AI offering our clients and learners a unique learning experience. EDUKATE.AI was developed with support from Innovate UK and provides all of our learners with 24/7 immediate feedback on their work, helping accelerate the learning process and providing a sandbox environment to experiment on real world datasets.
Since 2016, we have supported more than 15,000 learners across four continents with nearly 550,000 pieces of code submitted for feedback on EDUKATE.AI. We are trusted by some of the most recognisable brands in the world to educate their workforce, including Microsoft, the NHS, GSK, easyJet, the BBC and John Lewis. Our focus on applied learning to create business impact sets us apart - individual learners have reported applying their skills at work to generate recorded value of up to £40m.
Our Values
At the centre of the way we work together and inspire each other to achieve success are these core values:
Entrepreneurial
We take initiative and show entrepreneurial spirit which fuels innovation at Cambridge Spark. This includes identifying opportunities for improvement, taking ownership for implementing solutions effectively and driving improvement by using proof of concepts to demonstrate the feasibility and value of their work.
Team Spirit
Everyone is part of building an open and transparent culture, communicating effectively to raise issues, discuss improvements and share the evidence used to make decisions.
Customer-focused
Our customers are at the centre of everything we do, inspiring us to create great work. We strive to build friendly, professional and lasting relationships with them to better understand and anticipate their needs.
Gold Standard
We are experts in our field and are constantly developing our technology and offering. We set the benchmark in our industry: both in what we offer customers and in how we deliver it.
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Cambridge Spark is an Equal Opportunities Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. Cambridge Spark is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunities for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at Cambridge Spark are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, colour or ethnicity, ability or disability, gender or gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Cambridge Spark will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Cambridge Spark encourages applicants of all ages.
