In 2017, the UK Government launched a financial scheme to encourage businesses to train their staff. That scheme is called the Apprenticeship Levy.
The Levy is a tax roughly equivalent to 0.5% of a company’s pay bill. It’s paid to HMRC through PAYE.
The funds are sent to an online portal called the Apprenticeship Service, which allows employers to manage how they spend them. They can choose to allocate that money to train their staff through Apprenticeships or even donate part of their tax to other companies, so they can train their staff too.
- Companies with annual pay bills of over £3 million have the entire cost of their training covered by the Government.
- Companies with pay bills under £3 million only have 90%; however, if they can prove they’re committed to Apprenticeships in IT, they can unlock an extra 10%.
Whether it’s ‘just’ 90% or the full hundred, this financial aid is substantial. The funds expire every 2 years, so companies need to carefully plan what they’d like to do. Sadly, many companies lack the knowledge or bandwidth to deal with this, so their funds do go to waste.
At Firebrand, we’ve been running Apprenticeships for the past 10 years. We’ve won important awards, partnerships, and – most rewarding to us! – excellent reviews from learners and partners. We provide IT education, but your company doesn’t need to be in IT to qualify for our Apprenticeships.
Does your business need digital skills?
Would you like to upskill your current staff or hire new staff for new roles?
Think about your needs and drop us a line; we’ll customise a programme for you to help you meet your goals.