How Bud gave National Upskill assurance on compliance from day one

National Upskill is a government-approved apprenticeship provider with a national footprint, offering in-demand apprenticeships for a variety of industries and sectors.

How Bud gave National Upskill assurance on compliance from day one

We spoke to Managing Director Stuart Prior about National Upskill’s decision to implement Bud, and their experience with the platform so far.

Choosing a new platform

National Upskill began to look for a new apprenticeship management platform which could keep up with the changing landscape.

“The world of apprenticeship delivery has moved on and the platforms we have used previously felt geared towards the old ways of doing things. They didn’t offer a streamlined process: recruitment, quality, compliance and delivery were all different modules, so the platforms didn't feel joined up or robust,” Stuart said.

“With Bud, the functionality from our first view seemed to be more inclusive, with a process running through from beginning to end. We had a tour of the platform with Ruth, who was excellent and took us through everything from application to sign-up to EPA. Bud lent itself to  fully supporting our back office functions and reducing the volume of paperwork and forms, so that joined-up approach really resonated with me.”

Providing reassurance around compliance

After choosing Bud as their new platform, the National Upskill team were introduced to Alistair, their apprenticeship delivery consultant.

“Alistair has been fantastic. We had several weeks of sessions going through all the modules and functions. He has supported us throughout, and of course supported us with the first few months of funding claims. The claims that we have processed through Bud so far have been error free,” Stuart said.

Stuart has also been impressed by Bud’s regular updates, roadmap of developments and their ability to take on board National Upskill’s user feedback, which has given him peace of mind that he won’t miss anything from a compliance and quality perspective.

“There are always updates to Bud coming out in line with ESFA funding rules. The ESFA changes or updates things regularly, and whilst we keep an eye on changes, so do the Bud team who are proactive about implementing those changes. There’s a sense of confidence and security that someone is making sure you don’t miss anything. It’s like having an extended compliance team!”

Improving programme quality

As part of the move to Bud, National Upskill made the strategic decision to take three months of downtime to give their tutors a chance to completely rebuild and update their apprenticeship programmes.

“Our lead tutors are very experienced. While moving to Bud, we’ve been able to rewrite and reorder our programmes and add brand new resources, which the tutors weren’t always able to do because delivering and training took up all their time. It’s given us an opportunity to refine the learner journeys and standardise our delivery to ensure consistency. For a growing business, that quality assurance is absolutely essential,” Stuart explained.

“One of the really good aspects of Bud is that as you develop your programmes, you get to add delivery and standardisation notes into the activities that are only visible to tutors. Managing and maintaining learners on-programme is very easy, and the report suite is incredibly comprehensive – there’s pretty much an automated report for everything you’d want. I haven’t had that experience before.”

Stuart concludes that the value Bud adds to a business is “worth the investment”.

“With Bud, you need to do less admin. It gives you assurance that you’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s and everything is right before you press the button. From day one, you know that you’re compliant. It’s been an investment in our future,” he said.

Find out more about Bud

Bud’s joined-up training management platform streamlines apprenticeship delivery to ensure exceptional outcomes. Our intuitive system makes it easy to capture evidence and stay compliant throughout the learner journey, from enrolment to EPA.

Find out how Bud can help deliver quality training, streamline processes and minimise compliance risks by booking a discovery call now.