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Level 5 HR People Professional Apprentice

Company: 
Location: Warrington
Voted one of the best places to work in the UK for the second consecutive year in the Sunday Times, this is a fantastic opportunity to join our amazing HR Team whilst working towards your CIPD level 5

The postholder will work alongside the People & Culture Director HR & Payroll Manager and internal key contacts to deliver HR management activities and support embedding the organisational People Strategy across the Cogent Skills Group. This will include recruitment activities, HR Employee Relations casework, HR associated projects, employee lifecycle tasks, payroll support, administering the HRMI system, policy development and associated L&D duties.

While you're making an impact, you'll also be working towards your CIPD level 5 People Professional qualification

Qualification / Experience Requirements
Required;

  • 5 GCSE's at grade A* - C (9-4) including English and Maths (or equivalent qualifications)

  • Previous in experience in an HR role (e.g. Level 3 HR apprentice, HR assistant, HR administrator)Experience of notetaking in formal meetings

  • Experience of supporting recruitment processes and activities

Desired;

  • Level 3 HR/CIPD qualification

  • Experience of managing HR Management projects/activities and employee relations casework

Salary - £23,000 per annum

Benefits

  • Holiday Allowance - 29 Days Holiday Allowance, plus your birthday off and 8 Bank Holidays. Option to buy 5 additional days

  • Hybrid working with the requirement to be in the Warrington office 1-2 days per week

  • Pension - Employer contribution 6%

  • Company Summer away day

  • Company Christmas party

  • Company recognition and awards

  • Perk box

  • Optional private health care package

  • Life Assurance

  • Employee Assistance Programme

  • Bonus scheme

  • Aspire Values Award Scheme

  • Annual Value Awards

  • Long Service Awards

  • Gym Discount

Location - Warrington, UK

Working Hours
Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm with 1 hour lunch break.

Duration - 23 months

Start Date -ASAP

Interview Date - February 2025

Closing Date for Applications - 23rd January 2026

To Apply
To apply, please click the Apply Now button and complete the form. If you are having difficulty in completing this, please contact recruitment on [email protected] for assistance

Next Steps

Successful candidates will be progressed to a one way video interview, invites will be sent via email.

The video interview will be reviewed by the Hiring Manager


Job Description

The postholder will work alongside the People & Culture Director HR & Payroll Manager and internal key contacts to deliver HR management activities and support embedding the organisational People Strategy across the Cogent Skills Group. This will include recruitment activities, HR Employee Relations casework, HR associated projects, employee lifecycle tasks, payroll support, administering the HRMI system, policy development and associated L&D duties.

While you're making an impact, you'll also be working towards your CIPD level 5 People Professional qualification

Key Accountabilities

  • Monitoring and responding to first level queries though the HR inbox

  • Coordinating the recruitment process e.g. posting jobs, communicating with candidates, sending out letters and other administrative activities.

  • Setting up and managing onboarding activities including supporting the delivery of inductions to all new new employees

  • Assisting HR & Payroll manager with the processing of payroll

  • Managing internal training activities: including booking trainers, candidate registration, facilitating & coordinating training invitations, distribution of pre-workbooks/training resources, booking rooms and organising catering requests

  • Maintaining complete and accurate employee data and records on SageHR

  • Supporting HR meetings, including notetaking

  • Understanding HR systems, policies, and processes and supporting overall HR activities

  • Supporting the delivery of key/new HR processes

  • Analysing engagement results and assisting in supporting action plans to enhance team engagement

  • Supporting key people projects and activities

  • Analysing and reporting on people data, including exit interviews

  • Delivering generalist and specialist HR services to the core business

  • Playing an integral part in business decision making

  • Coordinating reward activities on Perkbox


Training To Be Delivered

Qualification to be delivered: The Level 5 apprenticeship is aligned to the CIPD Level 5 Diploma in People Management

Apprenticeship Standard: Level 5 HR People Professional

Training Provider: TBC

Delivery model: TBC


Future Prospects

Upon successful completion for the apprenticeship, there is potential to move to a permanent position within the HR Team.


Things To Be Considered

Please be advised, the successful candidate will be required to complete a DBS check. .


About Cogent Skills

We are a not-for-profit charitable organisation with a family of commercially focused companies committed to supporting the skills, needs and ambitions across the UK science and technology sector.

Skills to better our world

Our Mission: We are here to ensure Science & Technology employers have the skills needed for success. We influence for the good of our sector, harnessing the power of collaboration, and provide industry-specific skills services to create a safe and productive, future-ready workforce

Our values

Our values define who we are, our expectations of ourselves and of each other. They describe how we interact with one another and how we interact with others. In everything we do we are guided by four values that underpin the culture of Cogent Skills:

We are welcoming and inclusive, good things happen when people work for a common goal.

We speak out on the skills issues that matter to our employers. A strong voice is a catalyst for change

We are enterprising delivering services that are continually best in class

We care about our customers, our reputation and our people, operating with integrity

Our Purpose

Giving back is important to us. That’s why at our heart, we’re a not-for profit skills specialist, re-investing surplus from our individual businesses for a positive impact in our communities and in the sectors we serve. When we achieve, UK science and technology benefits.

We’re proud to say that the work we do makes a difference on the availability and quality of skills in science and technology. Here’s how we help raise the bar on skills in our industry:

  • Through employer collaborations that promote better standards or approaches to training (including apprenticeships)

  • Using evidence backed research to identify critical skills gaps or barriers to the take up of skills

  • Lobbying policymakers for better, more relevant training and education policies

  • Supporting businesses to implement training more effectively

  • Developing careers information, guidance and ambassadorial support

Read more about our Mission and Values here

Our people are our greatest strength, committed to supporting employers and the bright talented people that work right across the science and technology sector. From our staff and associates delivering a diverse range of skills solutions to our customers and members who use them – it’s our people that make Cogent Skills tick.

We are an disability confident employer, and have also been recognised as ne of the best places to work in the UK for the second consecutive year

Read more about working at Cogent here

Read More

About this role

Department
Business Support
Locations
Warrington
First Floor, 720 Mandarin Court, Centre Park, Warrington, WA1 1GG
Get directions
Sector(s)
Closing Date
23rd January 2026
Apply for this job
Contact
Caroline Lees
Recruitment & Careers Manager

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Diversity and Inclusion

Cogent Skills group (Cogent) is working hard to ensure a clear strategy towards proactively supporting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives that seeks to improve diversity and create opportunities for all. GDPR will be complied with when collecting and using this data and the data that you provide will be used for monitoring and analysis only.

Future Ready

Cogent Skills is sector based, working with companies from across the Science and Technology Industries embracing Life Sciences, Industrial Sciences and Nuclear.
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