What is the apprenticeship levy?

The apprenticeship levy has been created by HM Government as a key way to fund and encourage increased uptake in apprenticeships. It will be introduced in April 2017, and will mean that employers with a payroll in excess of £3 million will have to pay this extra tax. It will be set at a rate of 0.5% of the wage bill and collected via PAYE. The levy is expected to double the funding that is available for apprentices to £3 billion per year by 2020 and will fund the government’s target of 3 million new apprenticeship starts.

The top 5 things you need to know about the apprenticeship levy:

  1. Employers with a payroll in excess of £3 million will pay the levy
  2. The levy will be at a rate of 0.5% of the wage bill
  3. Levy funds can be accessed through a new Digital Apprenticeship Service –employers can register for an account from January 2017
  4. Funds will be paid from April 2017 and will be collected every month, Government will apply a 10% top-up payment
  5. Levy funding can be only be spent on apprenticeship training with approved providers — like QA Apprenticeships

Employers who wish to deliver some or all of their apprenticeship training internally will need to be approved as a provider.

How can apprenticeships work for my business?

Apprenticeships are a great way to develop the skills your business needs. Apprenticeship programmes allow you to grow your own talent, by upskilling enthusiastic, local candidates who become valuable, loyal employees.

QA’s programmes have been designed to include industry-relevant training aligned to specific job roles, which means you could utilise them to transform the way you recruit and develop talent in-house – reducing the need for using contractors or re-training experienced hires and graduates. QA’s Apprenticeships are also available across a number of different levels offering in-built development plans for your staff.

How can QA help employers?

QA doesn't just provide award-winning professional training courses. We're also the UK's leading provider of high-quality IT, Tech and Digital apprenticeships.

We’re committed to working hand-in-hand consulting and advising our clients on what the levy will mean for them.

We’ve crafted our apprenticeship services to help our clients use their levy funds to develop effective talent solutions.

  1. Consult

    We’ll work with you to understand what your levy commitment will be and then explore what value looks like for your business.

  2. Advise

    We’ll analyse how you can use the levy to meet your current talent needs and give you clear recommendations mapped to those needs.

  3. Implement

    From hiring one apprentice to implementing a large-scale talent development programme across multiple departments, we’ll help you implement the right levy talent solution for your business.

We can offer advice on the possible approaches to expanding existing programmes or implementing programmes for the first time. We will help you make the most out of the apprenticeship levy, by recruiting apprentices to not only balance the books but to provide the top-notch talent your business needs.

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