Onboarding and Compliance Adviser

Mercury Training Services Ltd is a specialist apprenticeship training provider delivering programmes across protective security, facilities management and business administration to learners and employer partners nationwide. We exist to make apprenticeships work: for learners, for employers, and for the sector. Our delivery teams are the engine of that mission, and this role sits at the heart of how we bring learners onto programme and get them ready to succeed from Day 1.
Role Purpose
The Onboarding and Compliance Adviser sits within Mercury’s Quality team and works under the direction of the Onboarding and Compliance Lead. The role delivers the day-to-day onboarding activity that gets learners onto programme correctly: Skills Scans, RPLE assessments, ALS identification, Individual Learning Plans, learner induction, line manager engagement and Day 1 booking. The post holder is one of Mercury’s quality gates. No learner should start a programme without having been properly assessed for skills, prior learning, ALS requirements, funding eligibility and genuine commitment.
The role carries no line management responsibility. The Onboarding and Compliance Lead sets the standard, allocates the caseload, quality checks the work and holds accountability for the onboarding function as a whole. BUD is Mercury’s single point of truth: if data is not correct in BUD, it is not correct, regardless of what any other tracker, spreadsheet or team member records.
Key Responsibilities
Skills Scan, RPLE and ALS Assessment
Skills Scans: complete high-quality, consistent Skills Scans for all prospective learners allocated to you, using the Mercury grading matrix. Every Skills Scan must be completed, graded, signed and filed in BUD before enrolment is confirmed.
RPLE checks: conduct thorough RPLE (Recognition of Prior Learning and Experience) assessments and experience evaluations to determine the appropriate programme level and content for each learner.
RPLE Guide compliance: follow Mercury’s RPLE Guide at all times and maintain 100% compliance with it. Escalate any case involving potential funding withdrawal or an OTJ hours anomaly to the Onboarding and Compliance Lead without delay.
Individual Learning Plan (ILP): build a bespoke ILP for each learner once funding eligibility, RPLE adjustments and OTJ hours have been confirmed. The ILP must accurately reflect the learner’s confirmed position before the programme starts and must be recorded in BUD.
ALS identification: identify Additional Learning Support (ALS) requirements at the earliest possible point, at initial assessment and induction, so that ALS needs are never left unrecorded or actioned late.
ALS plan creation: where a learner has declared ALS needs, add the ALS plan to BUD and notify the Onboarding and Compliance Lead immediately so that support arrangements can be put in place ahead of Day 1.
Learner needs: identify any learner needs, barriers or risks during assessment and flag them to the Onboarding and Compliance Lead with suggested support recommendations.
Induction and Commitment
Learner induction: deliver the formal learner induction, covering programme expectations, commitments, off-the-job requirements and Mercury’s contact schedule, ensuring all pre-start documentation is complete before the learner is booked onto Day 1.
Line manager engagement: confirm line manager commitment ahead of Day 1, by email, phone or any appropriate channel, securing documented confirmation of employer commitment, OTJ support arrangements and readiness to release the learner. All contact must be recorded in BUD.
Early communications: carry out proactive early communications with learners between enrolment and start to maintain engagement and reduce pre-start drop-off.
Non-engagement: chase learners and employers who do not respond or who miss booked appointments, and escalate persistent non-engagement to the Onboarding and Compliance Lead before it affects the start date.
Learner Tracking and Workshop Coordination
ATL tracker: keep your entries on the Apprentice to Learner (ATL) tracker accurate and up to date at all times, working with the Partnership and Data team so the business has full oversight of the pre-start pipeline. Any discrepancy between the ATL tracker and BUD must be identified and resolved promptly.
Workshop booking: book learners onto the appropriate Day 1 learning and Functional Skills workshops in coordination with Skills Coaches and the FS Co-ordinator, confirming learner-specific needs are communicated in advance.
Handover: attend or facilitate handover meetings so that learner knowledge transfers cleanly from enrolment to the allocated Skills Coach at the point of programme start.
Diary management: manage your own booking diary to meet agreed volumes of Skills Scans, inductions and Day 1 starts, taking account of admin, compliance and standardisation days.
Learner Support and Break in Learning
The Break in Learning register, Return to Learning plans and DfE notifications are owned and managed by the Delivery Manager. The Onboarding and Compliance Adviser provides pastoral contact only where directed.
BIL pastoral support: when asked by the Onboarding and Compliance Lead, make pastoral contact with learners on a break in learning to maintain engagement and rapport, recording all contact and outcomes in BUD and reporting the outcome back promptly.
Signposting: signpost learners to the right internal support, including safeguarding, ALS and Functional Skills, and escalate any concern to the Onboarding and Compliance Lead the same day.
Compliance, Reporting and Professional Development
BUD single point of truth: treat BUD as Mercury’s single point of truth for all learner data. If it is not recorded correctly in BUD, it is not correct, regardless of what any other tracker, spreadsheet or colleague records.
Funding rules knowledge: maintain a current working knowledge of DfE apprenticeship funding rules as they apply to eligibility, enrolment and evidence. This is a core part of the role, not a background requirement.
Compliance escalation: flag any compliance risk or suspected funding rule breach immediately to the Onboarding and Compliance Lead. Compliance issues must never go unreported.
Audit readiness: ensure every learner file you touch is complete, accurate, signed and filed so that it would stand up to internal audit, funding audit or Ofsted scrutiny without further work.
Reporting: provide a weekly update on your pipeline, conversions and blockers to the Onboarding and Compliance Lead, and contribute to the quarterly output meeting as requested.
CPD: attend DfE and Ofsted-style CPD activities, sector updates and quality improvement events as directed, and share relevant learning with the Onboarding and Compliance Lead following each activity.
Sector currency: keep up to date with changes to apprenticeship standards, EPA requirements and Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF) expectations relevant to Mercury’s programmes.
Working with the Onboarding and Compliance Lead
The Onboarding and Compliance Adviser carries out the onboarding activity. The Onboarding and Compliance Lead holds the accountability for it. In practice this means the Lead allocates your caseload and priorities, sets and quality checks the standard of your Skills Scans, RPLE decisions, ILPs and ALS plans, and is your first point of escalation for funding, compliance, safeguarding and learner risk. Decisions on funding withdrawal, complex RPLE cases, disputed eligibility and anything requiring Quality Operations Manager involvement sit with the Lead, not with the post holder.
The role does not include mentoring or performance managing Skills Coaches, conducting IQA or OTLA activity, leading caseload reviews, owning past planned end date resolution, or holding a standing learner caseload. Where the post holder develops the experience and qualifications to take on that work, it would represent progression into the Lead role rather than a change to this one.
Professional Training and Qualifications
As Onboarding and Compliance Adviser, you will engage in and maintain the following:
DfE and Ofsted-style CPD activities and sector quality events
Apprenticeship funding rules updates and DfE provider guidance currency checks
Safeguarding and Prevent awareness training, refreshed annually
Ofsted Fraud Awareness training
ALS and SEND awareness training relevant to apprenticeship delivery
Any assessor, coaching or quality-related CPD as directed by the Onboarding and Compliance Lead
Person Specification (Essential)
Experience working in an apprenticeship, further education or training environment in an assessment, coordination or administrative role
Ability to conduct S

Work arrangement
Yes