Utilise your company’s Apprenticeship Levy funds; train and retain the talent of tomorrow or develop your existing team members with our powerful Professional Development Apprenticeships.
The Apprenticeship Levy is a government initiative introduced in the United Kingdom in April 2017. The Levy is a tax imposed on businesses across England with an annual pay bill of over £3 million.
This scheme aims to encourage them to use apprenticeship programmes to futureproof their teams by hiring new talent, and upskilling or reskilling their existing team through professional development apprenticeships.
The Levy is collected by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) through PAYE, just like tax and National Insurance, and employers are able to access funds through the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) to pay for apprenticeship training and End Point Assessment costs.
In a nutshell, the Apprenticeship Levy aims to encourage more employers to invest in apprenticeships to address skills gaps, improve workforce productivity, and provide people with valuable training and employment opportunities.
You can spend your Apprenticeship Levy funds on training and assessment costs for new apprentices, or on professional development apprenticeship courses designed to upskill or reskill your existing employees.
If you pay into the Apprenticeship Levy and don’t claim your funds, you will lose them. Your financial contributions expire after 24 months and are claimed by the treasury.
To control how your unused funds are used, you can arrange a Levy transfer to support another organisation, including charities and SMEs.
Explore our Apprenticeship ProgrammesApprenticeships aren’t only for new hires, they offer valuable benefits for existing employees within your organisation. In 2022, over half of all apprenticeship starts across England came from businesses enrolling their staff on apprenticeships as continuous professional development.
These training and development programmes provide opportunities for upskilling and reskilling, allowing employees to acquire new knowledge and skills that align with evolving industry demands.
For businesses, enrolling your team on a professional development apprenticeship can boost employee morale, job satisfaction, and loyalty, leading to higher retention rates and a more engaged workforce.
Upskill your Existing StaffThe Apprenticeship Levy has many benefits for employers, apprentices, and the wider economy.
The Apprenticeship Levy is a powerful tool to increase staff retention and employee engagement.
By using your available levy funds to invest in the learning and development of your people, you’re showing that you value both their growth and career progression. In return, they know that you’re invested in their long-term goals and develop a sense of loyalty to your organisation.
Additionally, the skills and knowledge gained through apprenticeships can make employees more valuable to the company, which can lead to greater job security and opportunities for advancement.
Download Employ an Apprentice GuideThis guide outlines everything you need to know about employing an apprentice. In this guide, we cover:
The Apprenticeship Levy plays a crucial role in reducing staff training costs for employers.
Regular training is important for your staff members, it helps you keep a competitive edge and ensures that your team members are equipped with the latest skills and knowledge. However, employee training and commercial training courses can be expensive. On average, companies across the UK invest £42 billion in learning and development every year.
For Levy-paying organisations, this provides the opportunity to accrue a pot of ring-fenced levy funds that can be used solely on training and development – without having to set aside training budgets.
Download Manage an Apprentice GuideThis guide outlines everything you need to know about managing an apprentice. In this guide, we cover:
Skills gaps refer to the mismatch between the qualifications and skills required for a job in a particular sector and the skills possessed by your current workforce.
If not addressed, skills gaps can have a significant impact on your business’s growth and scalability. Productivity takes a hit as employees struggle to carry out their roles efficiently and effectively, this leads to increased costs, lower quality output and project delays.
The Apprenticeship Levy offers a pre-paid pot of training funds to ensure you keep upskilling and professional development at the forefront of your growth strategy. Apprenticeships offer an in-depth professional development programme for your employees designed by industry leaders. On completion, your team will have a recognised qualification, extensive knowledge, and in-demand skills.
View our Apprenticeship ProgrammesCreating a strategy for your Apprenticeship Levy can help ensure you utilise all your available funds before they expire. We’re here to support you in creating this and have a team of dedicated Apprenticeship Levy specialists on hand!
Our specialists are trained to deal with clients who pay into the Apprenticeship Levy and provide bespoke consultancy services to help you embed apprenticeships into training and recruitment plans.
Book an Apprenticeship Levy ConsultationComplete the form and a member of our team will be in touch in the next 48 hours.
Looking back now, there’s no question that the apprenticeship has given Katie the tools to do her job better.
It feels like the last few years have gone so fast! I say this to Katie near enough every time we catch up, but it really does feel like she’s continued to significantly improve – taking us an an organisation to the next level.
CAP – Managing a Professional Development Junior Data Analyst Apprentice
Read More“We see apprenticeships as a way of recognising talent early. Some of our youngest people who have come into the business have been the ones who delivered the most change because of their mind-set. This has allowed us to grow as an organisation; I think the drive, fresh ideas and energy is well worth the risk.”
Bondgate IT – Managing an IT Apprentice
Read MoreIf you’re a business in England with an annual salary bill of over £3 million – then you will pay into the Apprenticeship Levy. If your company is part of a group under shared ownership, you’ll likely have one shared levy pot between all organisations in the group.
Your payroll department will calculate, report, and pay your Apprenticeship Levy contributions to HMRC through the Pay as You Earn (PAYE) process, alongside Income Tax and National Insurance.
All your payments are recorded on your Digital Apprenticeship Service account and you can check the balance of your levy pot under the finances section of your account.
Your levy funds can be used to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment costs. However, this does not include other costs associated with apprenticeships such as wages, travel expenses or equipment!
You can use your Apprenticeship Levy funds to recruit new talent across your business, this is a cost-effective way to make sure you protect your organisation from skills gaps and a competitive candidate market.
Your levy funds can also be used to train and develop your current employees – from juniors up to senior management. Whether you have a team member who is looking to upskill and advance in their career, or looking to reskill and move into a different department – our team can help.
You can access your funds through your Digital Apprenticeship Service account. If you don’t have an account, you’ll need to create one prior to your apprentice being enrolled on their programme as it’s a mandatory requirement.
This online service will allow you to financially manage your apprenticeship programmes and help you to estimate your financial spend.
You can see funds appear in your digital account monthly, a few working days after you have confirmed your salary bill and levy contribution to HRMC for the previous month. You can then use the account to set up apprenticeships and authorise payments to training providers.
Levy funds expire 24 months after they enter your account unless you spend them on apprenticeship training. Levy spend will be applied on a first in, first out basis and applies to any government top-ups in your digital account.
For example, if you started paying into the levy in April 2019 and you haven’t spent any of the funds, they will start to expire on a rolling monthly basis starting from April 2021.
Yes, Levy transfers can be used to cover the costs of apprenticeship training, particularly for medium-sized businesses who do not always qualify for 100% funding support.
Yes, we can! If your organisation has Apprenticeship Levy funds due to expire, our team can help you transfer these funds and generate much-needed apprenticeship opportunities.
Please get in touch with our team to get the process started.
If you run out of levy funds, the remaining training costs for that month will come out of the ‘co-investment’ model. This means that the government will fund 95% of any outstanding costs, and you will need to cover the remaining 5%.
