FAQs, policies and information

The Government is very clear on its definition of an apprenticeship which is important when it comes to understanding what the Apprenticeship Levy is about and what it can be used for.

• An apprenticeship is a job with an accompanying skills development programme including workplace learning, formal off the job training and end point assessment.
• Apprentices will gain technical knowledge, practical experience and wider skills they need for their immediate and future careers through a range of learning as well as the opportunity to practise new skills in a real work environment.
• Apprentices must be an employee on the first day of their apprenticeship and be paid, at a minimum, a wage consistent with the law for the time they are in work and in off the job training.
• The apprenticeship must last at least one year or more if specified in the apprenticeship Standard or Framework.

• The Levy with apply to all employers operating in the UK, with a payroll bill over £3m each year.
• The Levy will be 0.5% of an employer’s payroll bill, paid through PAYE.
• The payroll bill will cover all employees across the whole of the UK including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• For the purposes of the Levy, an ‘employer’ is someone who is a secondary contributor, with liability to pay Class 1 Secondary National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for their employees.  Although earnings below the secondary threshold are not counted when calculating an employer’s NICs, they will be included for the purposes of calculating the amount of levy the employer needs to pay.
• The payroll bill (earnings) will include any remuneration or profit coming from employment, such as wages, bonuses, commissions and pension contributions on which NICs are paid.  Levy will not be charged on other payments such as benefits in kind, subject to Class 1A NICs.
• The Levy will apply to ‘groups’ of companies but not franchises.
• The Levy payment will be allowable for Corporation Tax.
• There will be a time limit of 24 months within which contributions can be spent.
• The Levy can only be used to pay for the training and assessment of apprentices in England.

Each Apprenticeship qualification will have a “cap”; this will be the maximum the Government will fund as part of the Levy. Each organisation will agree a cost per learner for each Apprenticeship up to the level of this cap with the training provider they have chosen.

Employers will need to consider quality as well as cost when procuring Apprenticeship provision, much in the same way they do now for commercial training.

The funds in the employer’s digital account can be used for apprenticeship training and end point assessment for its own employees up to the limit of the funding band.

This includes:

• off-the-job training
• planned on programme assessment and end-point assessment and the costs associated with external quality assurance and certification
• e-learning
• registration, materials, examination and certification where part of the apprenticeship programme
• administration directly linked to the training, education and end-point assessment
• funding to retake qualifications provided additional learning takes place
• accommodation costs for residential modules where this is a requirement for all apprentices
• participation in skills competitions directly contributing to the achievement of the apprenticeship standard as agreed between the employer and the provider
• To be eligible for funding, apprentices must (including but not limited to) have the right to work in England, spend at least 50% of their working hours in England and work for the employer or a connected company as defined by HMRC
• Levy funds can be used to fund an apprentice to undertake an apprenticeship at the same or a lower level than a qualification they already hold if the individual will acquire substantive new skills and the content of the training is materially different from any prior qualification or a previous apprenticeship

Levy funds cannot be used on other costs associated with the apprenticeship, including:

• management, traineeships, work placement programmes or the costs of setting up an apprenticeship programme
• enrolment, induction, prior assessment or diagnostic testing
• accommodation costs because of day-to-day work requirements
• travel costs
• wages
• personal protective clothing and safety equipment
• capital purchases
• optional training modules or education trips in excess of those required to achieve the standard or framework
• resits where no additional learning is required
• mentoring or support time by other staff
• tests or exams required to acquire licences to practice
• company induction, administration or bespoke services
• off-the-job training delivered only by distance learning; and repeating a regulated qualification already achieved

In addition, Levy funds cannot be used for any part of an apprentice’s programme that duplicates provision they have received from any other source including government funds such as European Social Fund or from Jobcentre Plus.

Funds from an employer’s digital account must not be used to pay the training and assessment costs for apprentices employed by an Apprentice Training Agency (ATA).

Funding for apprenticeship training and assessment can only be spent with an approved training provider included on the Government’s Apprenticeship Providers and Assessment register (APAR).  The main provider will have the overall responsibility for the training and on-programme assessment conducted by themselves, their sub-contractors and end-point assessment.

Employers will not be expected to meet the costs of any English and Maths training requirements which will continue to be met in full by Government.

If an apprentice leaves an employer during the course of an apprenticeship, that employee’s salary will no longer be included in the Levy calculation and the provider will no longer be able to draw down funds from the employer’s digital account to pay for the training or end point assessment for that apprentice.

Apprentices cannot be asked to contribute financially to the direct cost of learning or use a student loan to pay for their apprenticeship.

You have 24 months to use the Levy. Any monies that are not spent after 24 months will be removed from your Apprenticeship Service account monthly, with the first month’s money being removed. This money will be used to fund other organisations, including SME provision.

If your payroll fluctuates month on month; either because the business is growing, seasonal variations or due to payment of bonuses/commissions, then the amount being transferred to the Apprenticeship Service account will vary as well.

This can make planning to spend the Levy more difficult. If for example a Levy paying customer expects to pay £200K in to the Apprenticeship Service account annually, but due to bonuses etc. £90K of this is in month 12, then only £10K per month would be being transferred into the Apprenticeship Service account. If a programme was designed to spend the full £200K, spending £16.7K per month, then this would be a £6.7K overspend for each of the first 11 months, and the Employer would need to co-invest/contribute 5% of the excess.

There is nothing to stop apprenticeships being delivered to Contract / Agency staff. However, the minimum length of ANY apprenticeship programme is 12 months, and many are longer. Most Contract / Agency staff have much shorter placements, so are not suitable for apprenticeship programmes.

If you have an annual wage bill under £3M, you will not be a levy payer. You are still able to take advantage of government funding for staff apprenticeships though! The government will pay 95% of the cost and you pay 5%. This equates to you paying approximately £16 per month per learner and the Government pays the rest.

2020 brought about many significant changes in the way we work, and also in the way we learn.  Juice has adapted all of its programmes to reflect these changes by making sure we continue to support those who are working remotely from home or in isolated offices.

All our programmes are available to remote learners, and we shall continually review the situation in the light of guidance published by The Department for Education.  This means:

• everyone joining one of our government funded programmes can benefit from the distance learning arrangements we have in place;
• our enrolment process is remote and includes distanced eligibility checks and initial assessments of existing skills and qualifications;
• our online platform will provide you with easy access to all the learning you need to complete your qualifications and to achieve a positive result;
• our Juice mentors will maintain regular contact with every learner that aims at personalising support and guidance to meet each learner’s needs;
• our mentors will set work and assess learners remotely using phone calls, emails video calls and other available technology;
• we have recently invested heavily in a new learner management system called Aptem, which will enhance the way learning occurs, the communication between us and our learners, the information we share with employers, and the records of progress our learners make;
• we shall ensure each learner has appropriate access to the technology required to complete their remote programmes to ensure they are not disadvantaged;
• we shall discuss with each remote learner the environment they are working in to ensure it’s suitable for making effective progress through our programmes;
• we shall respond positively to any learner who has special educational needs by exploring how best to support them to have a good learning experience while working remotely.

Juice will continue to actively consider the effectiveness of our remote learning, and the safety and appropriateness of resumption to some degree of on-site learning.  In the meantime, we will continue to train our staff in online teaching techniques and online curriculum development to enhance the learning experience of all our learners.