The Learning Budget and Planning Manager will play a critical role in managing and coordinating the financial and planning activities that underpin Learning and Development (L&D) across HMCTS. This role ensures that all L&D initiatives are delivered within agreed budgets, planned effectively, and aligned with organisational priorities and wider government strategy.
The post-holder will be part of the Learning & Development team in HR, reporting into the Budget Lead. They will oversee transactional budget activities, manage spend, and provide accurate forecasting and reporting to support informed decision-making. They will provide leadership to the central Administration and Planning team, nurturing a high-performing and collaborative culture. This includes ensuring robust processes for scheduling, reporting, and effective coordination of learning activity across the organisation, while guiding work allocation and prioritisation to optimise resources and deliver organisational objectives.
The individual will drive coordination of internal and cross-government learning, making informed budget decisions to ensure activities are relevant, impactful, and well-communicated to a range of stakeholders. Connecting budget management and planning, the role will ensure HMCTS delivers cost-effective, high-quality learning experiences that build organisational capability.
Line Management:
Directly line manage the L&D Admin & Planning team (a geographically dispersed team of AO and EO team members), providing leadership, coaching, and development to ensure high performance and delivery of objectives.
Allocate tasks, monitor workload, and set clear priorities for the team to meet deadlines and maintain service standards.
Budget Management:
Support the end-to-end L&D budget process, including monitoring spend, supporting transactional processes, problem solving, and maintaining accurate financial records.
Identify variances, patterns, and risks in the budget, escalating issues and providing recommendations to the Budget lead to optimise resource allocation and ensure value for money.
Ensure compliance with Civil Service financial controls and reporting requirements.
Planning:
Oversee the scheduling and coordination of internal and external/cross-government learning activities, ensuring timely scheduling and alignment with organisational priorities.
Lead the team’s administrative processes for booking, tracking and reporting on learning events, maintaining accurate data and reporting systems to support informed decision-making and audit requirements.
Communications:
Build awareness of key changes across government which may impact the Learning & Development Budget and procurement process, ensuring stakeholders are informed and engaged.
Plan, develop and implement timely and engaging communications to promote learning opportunities across the organisation, tracking the effectiveness and using feedback and data to ensure messaging is clear, timely, and impactful.
Stakeholder Engagement:
Work closely with the Training Delivery team to align scheduling and planning with business needs, be responsive to operational demands and adaptable to changing priorities.
Build strong working relationships with finance colleagues, senior leaders, and external suppliers to ensure smooth delivery of learning activities.
Communicate clearly with stakeholders about scheduling, budget status, and changes to plans, ensuring transparency and engagement.
Understanding of budget management, including transactional processes and financial reporting. 5
Strong attention to detail, with the ability to maintain accurate records, monitor budget spend, and ensure compliance with Civil Service financial requirements. 6
Ability to gather and interpret data and feedback to drive decision making and process improvements.
Effective stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build relationships at all levels across HMCTS, government and with external suppliers. 7
Strong communication skills, both written and verbally, with the ability to tailor messages for different audiences.
Ability to lead and develop a team, setting clear objectives and supporting development and performance. 8
Excellent organisational skills to manage complex scheduling and administrative processes across multiple priorities. 9
Knowledge of Learning & Development and how effective planning supports organisational capability.
Proactively identify issues affecting the budget, administration and coordination of learning activities. Work with the admin and delivery team to adjust plans and problem solve at pace.
Make informed decisions when managing competing priorities, ensuring solutions are cost-effective and aligned with organisational needs.
Adapt communications when identifying gaps in awareness or engagement, implement strategies to address them and use feedback and analytics to continuously improve messaging and reach.
Escalate risks promptly and propose practical solutions to maintain compliance and delivery standards.
Shared responsibility for the Learning & Development (L&D) budget, ensuring effective allocation of funds to meet organisational priorities and deliver value for money.
Direct line management of Administration Support Team Leader (EO) and counter-signing manager for Planning and Administration Team.
Responsibility for ensuring team priorities are managed effectively to meet deadlines and service requirements.
Independently conduct research, manage transactional budget activities, and monitor spend, ensuring accuracy and compliance with HMCTS financial policies.
Prepare forecasts and recommendations for budget allocation and planning, seeking approval from the Budget Lead before financial decisions are implemented.
Lead the central Administration and Planning team, using informed decision making to set work allocation and ensure robust processes are followed without day-to-day supervision.
Exercises judgement in resolving complex scheduling or budget issues, escalating when decisions have financial, strategic or reputational impact.
Discretion to recommend improvements to budget, planning and administrative processes for continuous improvement and greater efficiency and value.
HMCTS HR L&D Team - build strong collaborative relationships to plan and manage budget processes, offering clear advice and recommendations that consider organisational priorities.
Capability Leads and HRBPs - influence decisions by aligning learning activities with business needs and identifying wider operational implications.
External suppliers - manage bookings and compliance, resolving more complex issues that could impact delivery or reputation.
Finance colleagues - provide accurate, objective input on budget reporting and ensure transparency in financial governance.