April 2017 saw the launch of the Apprenticeship Levy and 4 months on, we know there is a lot of information to digest on the subject. Using our experience, we wanted to simplify the vast amount of information and answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
Does the Apprenticeship Levy affect my organisation?
If your payroll comes to over £3m a year, the answer is yes.
If your payroll comes to less than £3m a year, the answer is also yes – but it offers an opportunity you don't have to take advantage of.
What will it cost?
The basic charge is 0.5% of your PAYE bill.
Smaller companies can claim £15,000 training allowance – if you have a wage bill of greater than £3m this will offset the charge 100%.
If your training costs are more than this, the government have indicated that more funds will be available.
What about apprenticeship funding for businesses that do not have to pay the levy?
Employers not paying the levy, will receive 100 per cent of the cost of the training from the Government (for candidates aged 16-18).
Employers will have to pay 10 per cent of the cost of the apprenticeship training for those aged 19 and over and the Government will pay the remaining 90 per cent, up to the maximum funding bands.
What does this mean if you’re a non-Levy businesses with less than 50 employees?
For non-levy businesses with less than 50 employees there will also be a new £1000 incentive towards apprenticeships for taking on someone aged 16 to18.
What benefits are there for Levy payers?
Those paying the levy receive an additional 10% top-up to spend on training.
Employers can get their money back once committed to a training apprenticeships, employers in England will be able to claim back their levy contribution.
There are many of benefits of apprenticeship recruitment... here are our top 5 facts:
Increase motivation – 92% of employers taking on apprentices noticed a more motivated workforce as a result of employing or re engaging in apprenticeships.
Great for business – consumers like to know a business is invested in people, it’s a real bonus to be supporting apprenticeships. 81% of consumers would rather use a company which hires apprentices.
Investing in the further – literally, according to employers hiring an apprentice 83% of them believe that is a long-term investment to their business, and not just financially.
Boost productivity and morale, while addressing the skills gap; with 80% of employers seeing an increase in productivity in the workplace.
Employer retention – According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 90% of apprentices stay employed after completing an apprenticeship.
The truth about apprenticeships – we bust the myths behind apprenticeships.
There are many popular misconceptions around apprentices, and as we exceed 350,000 registrations for candidates at GetMyFirstJob, we wanted to banish the historical views and many myths:
- Apprentices are lower quality than graduate employees – untrue. Apprentices can have some of the best A-Level or GCSE results and go on to explore degree apprentices with great results. With the added bonus of earning rather than incurring university debts, degree apprenticeships are not an alternative to going to university but an appealing option.
- Age limiting and for 16-19 year olds only – also untrue. Predominately associated witht younger people, apprenticeships can now be for any age – there is no age limit or restrictions. Also Levy funding can be used to train an apprentice of any age.
- Apprenticeships are only available in manual industries – wrong. Traditional views and stereotypes of apprenticeships are a thing of the past. Now the world of apprenticeships has evolved with more opportunities than ever, and a variety of industries, believed to be near 170.
- Businesses are not taking apprentices on – no, hiring is at record levels and forecast to increase further. You just need to look at the benefits of recruiting an apprenticeship to quickly realise apprentice employment can only be on the rise, and the impact of Brexit will only intensify the need for young talent. Last year alone, apprenticeship participation reached a record high of nearly 900,000 (from 2015 – 16). In August alone GetMyFirstJob saw 26,000 candidates search and apply for jobs, with 345,368 registrations on our system.
