For a comprehensive guide to becoming an Apprentice see here:

Education & Skills Agency – Become and Apprentice

In 2017 the Education and Skills industry saw one of its most significant reforms when they introduced the Apprenticeship Levy

What is the Apprenticeship Levy?

If you’re an employer with an annual pay bill of £3m each year, you will have been paying into your Digital Apprenticeship Account since 6 April 2017.

*Your annual pay bill is defined as ‘all payments to employees that are subject to employer Class 1 secondary National Insurance contributions such as wages, bonuses and commission’.

Apprenticeship Levy is charged at 0.5% of your annual pay bill, less £15’000 allowance. You can use HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools to help you work out how much you need to pay.

What if I do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy?

During 2020 the government are changing the way that employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy arrange their apprenticeships.

Throughout the year they will be moving away from the use of Government-procured contracts for apprenticeship training to a system in which employers will select an apprenticeship standard, choose their training provider and secure access to funding for all new apprenticeships through the digital apprenticeship service. In doing so they want to give smaller employers greater control over their apprenticeship choices.

From January 2020 employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy will be able to reserve funding for an apprenticeship in advance of recruitment or an offer of an apprenticeship being made to an existing employee. This reservation ensures that employers can plan, and that funds will be available to pay for the training from the point the apprenticeship starts. The employer must then turn this ‘reservation’ into a ‘commitment’ once the training provider and an apprentice are confirmed. At this point funding can be released to the training provider in the usual way.

For more information or to discuss your specific requirements please contact us at hello@theadvancementgroup.co.uk