Apprentice advantage for employers

What is an apprenticeship, exactly?

Apprentices are aged 16 or over and combine working with studying to gain skills and knowledge in a specific job. Apprenticeship can help an employer to bridge the skill gap a required for the organisation with a choice of hiring a new apprentice or upskilling the existing workforce.

As an apprentice, you’ll:

Z

work alongside experienced staff

Z

Apprentices can be new or current employees

Z

Apprentices gain job-specific skills

Z

Apprentices get paid at least the minimum wage

Why employers need an apprentice?

Training costs are funded

Employers can take advantage of government funding options to reduce cost

No hiring or recruitment fees

Applied Business Academy does not charge you for hiring of apprentice

Get the right talent from day one

We deploy an apprentice who’s ideal and right for your business, someone who adapts to your business and culture from day one.

Boost your business productivity

As apprentices are trained to meet your business objectives, they tend to create more value and bring fresh perspective to your business.

Bridge skill gaps

Bring new skills or upskill existing employee to give your business the definitive edge

Reimagine your business

New skill and fresh talent will help your business to reimagine and do newer things never thought off

Get additional eligible grants

We will help you get additional grants as you become eligible

Increase your bottom line

Your return on investment will be high compared to traditional hiring and recruitment

How to go about hiring an apprentice?

Hire an apprentice

Choose the apprentice by Job role or skill and a required level for your business. Click here to view applied Business academy apprenticeship programmes.

Check with Applied Business Academy for funding options

Applied Business Academy will find you a suitable apprentice

Make an apprenticeship agreement and commitment statement with the apprentice.

Upskill existing workforce with or without levy

Choose the apprentice by Job role or skill and a required level for your business. Click here to view applied Business academy apprenticeship programmes.

Provide information and advice to your staff on apprenticeships.

After suitable staff selection for the Apprenticeship.

Get upto 100% of the training and assessment costs funded by the government.

Make an apprenticeship agreement and commitment statement with the apprentice.

Applied Business Academy will take the responsibility of running the apprenticeship scheme for you as your apprenticeship training provider.

What is apprenticeship levy and how does it work for your business?

What is Apprenticeship levy?

The government has introduced the apprenticeship levy, a compulsory tax on employers to help fund the development and delivery of apprenticeships, with the aim of improving the quality and quantity of those available.

When did the levy come in to effect?

Apprenticeship levy came in to effect in April 2017

Who can pay Apprenticeship levy?

Employers fall into one of two groups: levy payers and non-levy payers. Employers with a paybill of more than £3 million are required to pay the levy – whether they employ an apprentice or not. Your paybill includes all payments to employees that are subject to Class 1 secondary National Insurance Contributions, such as wages, bonuses and commission.

Example: (Levy Paying company with paybill of £5,000,000)

Levy Sum: £5,000,000 x 0.5% = £25,000
Levy Allowance: £15,000
Levy Payment: £25,000 – £15,000 = £10,000 (Payment due)

How will my company pay the Apprenticeship levy?

The levy due by an employer is paid to HMRC through the Pay-as-you-earn (P.A.Y.E) process alongside payment of Income Tax and National Insurance contributions and is held in a ‘digital fund’ that employer can use to pay for apprenticeship training. A 10% contribution is added to each monthly payment.

How does the £15000 allowance work?

The £15,000 levy allowance is divided monthly so you will only pay for a given month if your liability is less than £1,250. Any unused allocation money will carry over towards the next month.

For example, if your company only used £1000 of your levy allocation money in month A, alongside not paying the levy for that month, your allowance would also be £1,500 for month B.

How will levy be affected with connected group companies?

If you are in a group of companies paying the levy together, your group can already set up a single shared apprenticeship account and pool your funds. Read more about how to register connected organisations.
When a group of companies are connected, they can only use one £15,000 levy allowance. However, this allowance can be split towards all businesses in the group but this must be decided and notified to HMRC before the start of the tax year, it cannot also be changed for the rest of the tax year.

While paying levy, what advantages does it bring to my company?

A company that pays the levy will have access to the new digital account system. This will enable you to pay for training and assessment for Apprentices in England, provided as a voucher system. You are also able to search for training providers like Applied Business Academy to help deliver your Apprenticeship programme. You can register with this service here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-apprenticeship-funds

However, digital funds and government funding cannot be used for:

Apprentice wages
Apprentice travel and subsistence costs
managerial costs
traineeships
work placement programmes
the costs of setting up an Apprenticeship programme

Your company will have up to 24 months to spend these vouchers or they will otherwise expire and cannot be used again.

What is non-levy payer employers contribution costs?

Non-levy paying employers still have to make a small contribution towards training an Apprentice.

Any Businesses with under 50 employees won’t need to pay for anything taking on a 16-18 year -old Apprentice, with the government contributing 100% towards the total cost of training.

Does levy allow us to train existing staff?

Your Internal Workforce Development Program can be funded through the Apprenticeship Levy, provided the employee will be learning new skills/knowledge, the Apprenticeship is relevant to their role and is the most appropriate way towards progressing their career.

Where to from here?

At Applied Business Academy, we would like to help your business take advantage of the Apprenticeship Levy and alleviate any concerns you may have. Please contact us for an in-depth discussion.