Levy & Non Levy

From May 2017 new apprenticeship reforms have been in place, employers now fall into two categories.

1. Employers with an annual pay-bill of OVER £3MILLION = LEVY PAYING. You will use the Digital Apprenticeship service – HMRC will have informed you about the reforms if you are in the levy bracket. If you are a levy payer, please use this tool to work out how much money will be in your Levy pot- estimate-my-apprenticeship-funding.esfa.bis.gov.uk
2. Employers with a pay-bill of UNDER £3MILLION = NON-LEVY PAYING. You will be required to co invest. The ESFA will contribute 90% of total training costs, the employer will pay the remaining 10%

The qualifications are also changing, from the current system of Frameworks, to the new system Standards – which have been developed by the corresponding industry for each sector. I anticipate the new standards will be ready to deliver in the next 3 months.

Instructions for Levy Employers

As a Levy employer you will need to register to manage you Apprenticeship funds www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-apprenticeship-funds using the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS). Add the PAYE schemes that the apprentices will be paid through.

Please enter the Apprentices’ details and select Achievement Training as the training provider using our “UK Provider reference number 10000099“. Finish by clicking the ‘save and continue’ followed by ‘approve and send to training provider’. Once the apprentice is registered, Achievement Training will receive an automatic prompt from your digital account.

If you would like to discuss further, please contact Tracy Barnes on 01752 202269

Employer Incentives

The incentive payment is in addition to the £1,000 employers already receive for hiring an apprentice:

• aged 16 to 18 years old
• under 25 with an education, health and care plan or who has been in the care of their local authority

Employer Incentive payments pre-April 2001

The government will fund all of the apprenticeship training costs, for employers employing fewer than 50 people, if on the first day of the apprenticeship, the apprentice is:

• aged between 16 and 18 years old
• aged between 19 and 24 years old and either has an EHC plan provided by their local authority or has been in the care of their local authority

The employer will receive a payment of £1,000 towards the additional cost associated with training if, at the start of the apprenticeship, the apprentice is either:

• Aged between 16 and 18 years old (or 15 years of age if the apprentice’s 16th birthday is between the last Friday of June and 31 August)
• Aged between 19 and 24 years old and has either an EHC plan (Educational Healthcare Plan) provided by their local authority or has been in the care of their local authority.

These payments will be paid as follows: 50% will be paid 90 days after the apprentice starts, the remaining 50% will be paid 365 days after the apprentice starts.

National Insurance Contributions are not required by employers with apprentices under the age of 25 earning less than £827 a week.

Contract of services – Employer agreement

• Employ and pay the Apprentice in accordance with agreed employment terms and conditions and taking into account relevant legislation.
• Provide the Apprentice with an Apprenticeship contract and contract of employment within 13 weeks of their start date.
• Confirm that the Apprentice is employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week.
• Confirm that the intention at the start of the Apprenticeship is that there is available time for the apprentice to have time off to study within the working day, in order to complete the apprenticeship.*
• To provide appropriate supervision to support, encourage and monitor the Apprentice in the workplace including provision of a nominated mentor and deputy to ensure continuity of supervision.
• Confirm that the Apprentice’s job: “allows the Apprentice to gain the wider employment experience required by the apprenticeship standard and that they are able to complete all elements of the apprenticeship within their contracted working hours”.

Please note* All apprentices are required to have 20% off the job training over the course of the Apprenticeship – Please see the 20 percent training guidance.