The Apprenticeship Levy Explained

A new tax coming into effect from April 2017 and effecting all employers with a payroll of £3m or more

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What is it ?

The Apprenticeship Levy is a new tax that will take effect in April 2017. The Apprenticeship Levy is designed to create a new fund that will pay for the training of three million apprentices in the UK by 2020. It affects all UK organisations with a PAYE wage bill of £3m or more.  If that applies to you or your organisation, a fee equal to 0.5% of the payroll will be collected by HMRC from May 2017.

The good news is that we can help you turn the Levy to your advantage and with careful planning you can recover 100% of the Levy you have paid.  Long before the Levy was announced, we’ve been assisting hundreds of public and private employers source and employ thousands of apprentices, and in the run-up to its introduction in 2017, we’re gearing up to help many more with a full range of apprenticeship levy management services

We provide a free advisory service to help you understand how it all works and to make sure that you recover 100% of your levy and spend it with maximum impact. We support this advice with a full range of services designed to create and manage great apprenticeships within your organisation.

How does it work?

There’s still a lot being done behind the scenes at the Department of Education sorting out all the operational detail and you can keep up to date with this by signing up to our Apprenticeship Levy News (sign up at the bottom of this page). All the key decisions have been taken though, and in headline terms it looks like this:

 

  • HMRC collect 0.5% of your payroll monthly
  • Funds collected are credited to your online ‘levy account’
  • Your credits are topped up by10% from the government
  • You recruit apprentices and/or ask your existing employees to undertake apprenticeship training
  • Then you find one or more approved training providers
  • You  transfer your levy credits to the provider(s) to pay for the training

 

Sounds simple ? Well, yes and no. There are a lot of things you’ll need to know and do to ensure that this all works for your organisation and that’s where our apprenticeship levy services are deigned to help

How do you recover the cost?

The short answer is that you recover your apprenticeship levy by training apprentices.

If you train the right number of staff, using an approved apprenticeship training provider, completing relevant apprenticeship ‘standards’ or ‘frameworks’ and you plan this in an effective way you can not only recover your levy you can draw down much more than you paid in.

But you have to get the planning, set up and delivery right and that’s what our apprenticeship levy services help you do.

We publish a monthly update on policy and implications of the levy and how it will effect employers. Join our list to receive your updates – use the form at the bottom of this page.

Haworth

“From the moment LAC sourced and tailored the apprentice to suit the needs of our business through to the ultimate graduation and full time hiring of them, LAC have supported each part of the program at all key stages of their development. The mix of a broad yet detailed academic approach they take coupled with the learning in the real business environment is one of the most effective ways to grow young people within any industry.”

Shaun Maroney, Operations Manager, Haworth UK Ltd

Hawkins\Brown Architects

“We had a very positive experience working with The London Apprenticeship Company. From the outset we were provided with clear information and the support we received from the team was excellent. We found they had a wide range of well prepared and eager candidates and ultimately we found an apprentice who suited our needs very well. We are happy to report our apprentice has grown to be an integral part of business.”

Anthea Corridon, HR Advisor, Hawkins\Brown

Alias Hire

“Our experience of LAC has been that they are professional, helpful and under-standing. We had never taken on an Apprentice before, Leo was our first, we needed extra staff and an Apprentice was a logical choice. We are delighted with our Apprentice and how things have turned out and taking on an apprentice again is something we will endeavour to do in the future”

Danny Dawson, Alias Hire

Look Ahead Housing and Care

“Jade is great. She is an asset to the team. I’m glad we have her until she goes onto university and we wish her every success with her studies next year and her future career. I wish she wanted to pursue a career in Finance as she has just been brilliant, but I am sure the skills she has gained here will transfer over to any career she chooses... that’s the great thing about an apprenticeship. Ultimately, employers like experience, the apprenticeship gives young people a real opportunity to compete with more mature and experienced candidates because it gives them transferable skills....I think what also makes it work for the employer is LAC’s Apprentice Coordinators. Vanessa, Jade’s Apprentice Coordinator has been really helpful and has always been on hand whenever Jade needed advice, lessening any perceived “burden” on the employer.”

Lorna Wilcockson, Finance Manager, Look Ahead Housing and Care

Printing.com

“Toby has made exceptional progress here at Printing.com Winchester and has definitely grown in confidence. Toby is always looking to learn new things. He has certainly fit into the company well, and I believe he has an exciting future ahead of him. I am happy that we have been able to help him on his way by taking him on as our apprentice.”

Tim Mcmillen, Managing Director, Printing.com