Welcome to the final post in our 18 part series on the Apprenticeship Levy. Since its launch over two years ago in April 2017, the Levy has had a profound impact on individuals and businesses up and down the country.
It’s opened up employers to the idea of apprenticeship training who otherwise might never have considered it, not to mention the thousands of school leavers, industry switchers and existing employees that have benefited from specialised training while they work. However, despite all of this, there still exists a bit of uncertainty around the levy, who it’s for and how to take advantage of it. That’s why we decided to write this series - to enlighten, educate and shatter some misconceptions about the Apprenticeship Levy.
To see all the posts that have made up the series, please just click here.
The Apprenticeship Levy for employers
Over the course of this series, we’ve run through all the basics and talked about how the levy was formed. We’ve discussed large-scale businesses that are required to pay into the levy pot, and how it can be a huge net gain for them. We’ve also covered how smaller businesses can benefit from the fund with a mere 10% contribution of costs, even if they aren’t required to contribute through PAYE like larger businesses. We’ve also delved deeper into some of the more probing questions that employers typically have, like how to set up an online portal and access funds, or which courses and training providers are available. Later on in our series, we even discussed potential strategies for implementing apprenticeship training programmes and the best way to apply funds to new or existing staff. The Apprenticeship Levy has bags of potential for businesses of all shapes and sizes throughout the UK, and with a bit of know-how and a tiny bit of admin, you can start transforming and evolving your workforce for the better.
A game changer for employees
A huge part of this series has been opening up employers’ eyes to the opportunities the Apprenticeship Levy can bring, but we also wanted to take care of a few stigmas and highlight the benefits for employees and aspiring apprentices along the way. Any kind of further education is a wonderful thing, but apprenticeships sometimes aren't compared favourably to other routes like college and university. Today, in 2019, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Apprenticeships are more varied than ever before and are open to all, regardless of age - even your existing employees can jump onto an apprenticeship course to earn themselves a promotion or add value to your business. From accounting and computer science to construction and electronics, there are apprenticeship courses available through the levy in just about any field you can think of - and working while learning has huge benefits for both employer and apprentice.
Where next?
The Apprenticeship Levy was set up with a view to making apprenticeships in the UK more accessible and affordable, and for the most part it has succeeded. Crucially, it’s helped to dispel the myth that apprenticeships are only for school-leavers, and it’s motivated employers of all sizes to invest in apprenticeship programmes and grow their workforce. The plan is to have £3 million qualified apprentices in the UK by 2020, and we’re already well on our way.
About Ascento
Ascento learning and development specialise in providing workforce development apprenticeship programmes to both apprenticeship levy paying employers and non levy employers. We work closely with employers to identify the key areas for development and design strategic solutions to tackle these with programmes that are tailored to each individual learner. With two schools of excellence focusing on Management and Digital Marketing we don’t deliver every qualification under the sun, but focus on what we know best and ensure that quality is at the heart of everything we do.
