The Apprenticeship Service is the government portal for employers to find, fund, and manage apprenticeship programmes.
You can create your account by clicking here.
You can use your account to:
You’ll need:
You will be ask you to:
If you’re an employer with a pay bill over £3 million each year, you must pay the apprenticeship levy.
Your annual pay bill is all payments to employees that are subject to employer Class 1 secondary National Insurance contributions such as wages, bonuses and commissions. You must include payments to:
Your pay bill does not include earnings:
For further information on the Apprenticeship Levy click here.
As an employer that doesn’t pay the apprenticeship levy, you pay just 5% towards the cost of training and assessing an apprentice.
The government will pay the rest up to the funding band maximum.
You’ll pay the training provider directly and agree on a payment schedule.
If you employ fewer than 50 employees, the government will pay 100% of the apprenticeship training costs up to the funding band maximum for apprentices aged:
16 to 18
19 to 24 with an education, health and care plan provided by their local authority or has been in the care of their local authority
If you exceed the funding band maximum, you’ll need to pay all the additional costs.
If your apprentice started before 1 April 2019, you pay 10% towards the cost of training and assessing your apprentice and the government pays the rest. This rate continues until your apprentice completes their training.
Reserving funds
All non levy employer reservation levels will be reset to 0, which will allow any employer that does not pay the Apprenticeship Levy to make up to 10 new reservations to fund new starts in the financial year 2021-22.
Why there are reservation levels?
Reservation levels are for employers who do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy, reservations give you the confidence that the government will pay for apprenticeship training while also managing the availability and affordability of apprenticeship funding for all employers.
Funds can be reserved up to 6 months in advance
Previously the reservation period was 3 months but from 1 April this will be extended to 6 months meaning that you will be able to reserve funds up to 6 months before an apprenticeship is planned to start.
The extension of the reservation period will provide you with more flexibility and reassurance that the funding is available to you.
For information on employing an apprentice for non-levy employers and also the additional Government incentives available from 1 April, please click here.