Apprentice Funding
Funding an apprenticeship for levy paying employers
As an employer with a pay bill of more than £3 million, you’re required to pay the apprenticeship levy. You can manage funds using the apprenticeship service and spend it on training and assessing your apprentices. The government will apply a 10% top up to the funds you have in your account.
If you don’t already have an account, find out how to set up an apprenticeship service account as an employer.
Levy Transfer
You can use your apprenticeship service account to transfer up to 50% of your unused levy funds to a business of your choice. By transferring levy funds you will be supporting other businesses in paying for their apprenticeship training and assessment costs (up to the funding band maximum).
When creating a pledge, you can select how much funding will be available for that financial year. You can also choose which businesses you’d like to support by selecting optional sector, skill or location criteria.
Once submitted, your pledge will be advertised here so that businesses can search and apply for a transfer of funds.
Funding an apprenticeship for non-levy employers
If you are an employer that doesn’t pay the apprenticeship levy, you pay just 5% towards the cost of training and assessing an apprentice aged 22 or over. The government will pay the rest up to the funding band maximum. You’ll pay CSR directly and agree on a payment schedule.
The government will fund 100% of the apprenticeship training costs, up to the funding band maximum for apprentices aged 16 to 21.
The government will fully fund the training costs for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who either have an education, health, and care (EHC) plan issued by their local authority, and/or have been in the care of their local authority, and are employed by an employer with fewer than 50 employees.
You will need to create an apprenticeship service account to reserve apprenticeship funding. Click here or contact us for further information.
Paying your Apprentice
You’re responsible for paying your apprentice for their normal working hours and any training they do as part of the apprenticeship. As an advocate and supporter of The Apprentice Decent Wage Pledge CSR would strongly advise not to pay the National Minimum Wage. To better understand the importance of a decent wage for apprenticeships, please see the documents below:
For any advice and guidance on how to best utilise your levy funds please book a meeting with CSR.
