Angela Barnes is the inaugural recipient of the SRSCC CIPS Exceptional Learner Award—but her path to the podium was anything but typical.
Progressing all the way from CIPS Level 4 to Level 6 and achieving coveted MCIPS status, Angela navigated a completely new role in procurement and two periods of maternity leave to reach the top of her profession.
When she joined the GMC procurement team as a Procurement Officer in August 2021, much of the landscape was unfamiliar territory. While she brought valuable experience in contract management and tender evaluation, as she puts it, “everything else in the procurement world was new and foreign to me.”
With a full CIPS Level 6 qualification set as a strict prerequisite for her role, there was no easing-in period. Her first exam series arrived just three months later in November 2021.
We sat down with our award-winner to hear how she built her professional confidence, tackled the hardest modules, and ultimately made SRSCC history.
The hardest climb
Every learner has a moment where the finish line feels a long way off. For Angela, it was the step up from Level 4 to Level 5 — a jump made all the harder because she was returning to work from maternity leave at the same time.
“I found the jump in intensity of the content overwhelming,” she says. “Trying to balance studying alongside work, new motherhood and life was hard.”
Her way through was refreshingly practical: taking each exam series one at a time, and — crucially — asking for help when she needed it. “Having the confidence to speak up in workshops and revision sessions doesn’t come easily to everyone,” she reflects, “but I found that once I raised something I was struggling with, it helped others as well as myself. That made me feel less alone in ‘not getting’ things… like the financial calculations, just horrible!”
The people who made the difference
Ask Angela about her time with SRSCC and she doesn’t hesitate — three moments, and three people, stand out.
The first is Ruth. “I remember being at breaking point with the financial equations during L5M4 exam preparation, when Ruth put together an A4 crib sheet to help. It simplified everything into something manageable to learn, so when that financial question came up in the exam, I was ready for it — and couldn’t wait to thank her afterwards for getting me through.”
The second is Greg, who guided her through the notoriously tricky L6M4 module. “Greg somehow managed to make L6M4 simple despite it being a quirky module. He took the unit, broke it down and actually made the learning make sense. Without his direction and positive reinforcement that I could do it, I would have gone down a deep rabbit hole that I might still be in now. Instead, I’m sat here having aced that module with a distinction.”
The third is Amanda, whose steady support ran throughout. “There was literally no problem too big or too small that she wasn’t happy to help with,” says Angela. “She always resolved things promptly, and we’d have the best chats along the way too.”
A double win
For Angela, achieving MCIPS has been about far more than a line on a CV. “There was no better feeling than updating my signature to include MCIPS, knowing that when people see it, they instantly recognise it as the highest industry standard — a real ‘go me’ moment.”
The personal significance runs deeper still. Her qualification became inseparable from becoming a mum. “I started the course, then got pregnant and went on maternity leave; came back and studied more, then got pregnant again and went on maternity leave a second time, before finally returning to complete the qualification.” Reaching MCIPS through two periods of maternity leave and early motherhood, she says, “feels like a real double win. Now I can enjoy having the qualification and time with my children, without the stress of exams.”
The first of her kind
As the very first winner of the SRSCC CIPS Exceptional Learner Award, Angela’s dedication has set a remarkable standard for future learners—even if the reality of the win is still sinking in!
“To start, I never win anything, so being the first student to be awarded this is just surreal,” she says. “I’m really honoured to have won it, especially when I see the standard of learners I’ve been on this journey with.”
Her final word serves as a powerful reminder of what is possible with the right mindset and support system in place. “This qualification has been a wild ride, but I’d do it all over again to get this result—and of course, I wouldn’t have picked anyone else but SRSCC to have gotten me through it.”
Congratulations, Angela — from all of us at SRSCC. A thoroughly deserved award, and a story we’re proud to share.
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