Apprenticeship Levy
The government introduced an apprenticeship levy in April 2017. Here at Skillsfirst, we have been working with a growing number of employers to help them recoup this levy and embed high-quality apprenticeships within their organisations.
Our free consultancy service can help you understand the impact of the levy in more detail and how it could work for you.
Here’s a bit more information…
How the apprenticeship levy will affect your business?
All UK employers who have a total employee pay bill above £3m a year will pay the apprenticeship levy. The levy rate has been set at 0.5% of your pay bill, with a £15k allowance.
Levy payments will be collected monthly by HMRC through Pay as You Earn (PAYE), alongside tax and National Insurance. No organisations, whether private, public or charitable, are exempt from the levy.
What can the levy be spent on?
You can spend your levy funds on apprenticeship training for existing employees or new recruits, as long as the training meets an approved standard and the individual meets the eligibility criteria.
How can Skillsfirst support you?
We can offer you a range of services to help you understand the world of apprenticeships and realise the value they can add to your business.
This includes:
• Advice on which apprenticeship standards would benefit your business
• Knowledge on the development and delivery of apprenticeships
• Links to trusted training providers
• Nationally recognised, regulated qualifications
• End-point assessment (a key element of the new apprenticeship standards)
We can also offer:
• Mapping of your existing training programmes to the apprenticeship standards
• Training and upskilling of your staff to deliver apprenticeships
• Funding and quality assurance guidance
Non-levy Paying Employers
In the main, non-levy paying empployers will have to make a 5% financial contribution to the cost of training an apprentice. The government will cover the remaining 95% of the cost. This also applies to levy-paying employers who want to invest more in apprenticeship training than they hold in their digital account.
There are circumstances where smaller employers will not have to make a contribution (when recruiting 16-18 year olds for example) or will recieve additional funds to suppport their apprenticeship costs. You can read the Apprenticeship Funding and Performance Management Rules here.
What next?
If you would like to meet with a member of our team to discuss this in more detail please contact us:
T: 0121 270 5100