Apprenticeship funding
You can get help from the government to pay for apprenticeship training. The amount you get depends on whether you pay the apprenticeship levy or not. You pay the levy if you’re an employer with a pay bill over £3 million each year. If you do not pay the levy, you pay 5% towards the cost of training and assessing your apprentice.
How to set up apprenticeship funding
Levy payers
Does your company pay in to the Levy fund? If so, please see below the following guidance and how to set up a Digital Account.
Apprenticeship funding and how it will work
Register to manage your apprenticeship funds – Guidance
Pay Apprenticeship Levy - Guidance
When you have to pay Apprenticeship Levy and how to report your payments.
To spend funds in your Apprenticeship Service account, you need to:
2) Agree a price and payment schedule
Once your Apprentice’s have completed the online application process and had an offer the Apprenticeships Service Unit will send you the following:
- Apprenticeship Training Service Agreement (Employer Contract which includes a payment schedule)
- Commitment Statement (Agreement between the Provider, Employer and Apprentice)
3) Pay for training and assessment with funds through your apprenticeship service account
Once the apprenticeship training you’ve bought has started, monthly payments will be taken from your Apprenticeship Service Account and sent to the Provider.
For any apprenticeship service and digital account enquiries or technical advice please contact:
Apprenticeship Employer Helpline
nationalhelpdesk@apprenticeships.gov.uk
+44 (0)800 0150 600
Non-levy payers
The ESFA has moved to a digital system by which non-levy employers will be able to make ‘reservations’ for funding for up to three apprenticeship starts. The funding will be reserved for three months, after which time this funding will expire, and a new reservation will have to be made.
Employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy will be able to create accounts on the apprenticeship service and begin arranging their own apprenticeships.
There are step-by-step instructions for this:
Adding an Apprentice to an account
In order to set up a user account on the digital service, you will need (step-by-step instructions in the link earlier in the email):
- A valid email address
One of the following:
- Government gateway credentials (organisational level)
- Account office reference number
- PAYE reference number
You may also need:
- Companies house number
- Charity number
- Public body name
In order to make a reservation you will need to know the month in which the apprenticeship starts and the standard to be undertaken.
Please bear in mind reservations will only last 3 months so you need to reserve this at the appropriate time.
Get started
Please note: you will be reserving funds for the 95% of the course fees covered by the government co-investment. For the remaining 5%, you will be invoiced by the University on a monthly basis as per the payment schedule in your contract.
Levy transfers
If you are a non-levy organisation based in Greater Manchester or Salford, you can take advantage of the levy transfer schemes that are available.
This is where large levy paying organisations transfer their levy to a smaller non-levy employer to support them with apprenticeship training. The levy transfer is for the full amount of the programme so you won't have to pay the 5% fee.
Greater Manchester Levy Matchmaking
Once you have agreed a levy transfer with an organisation, you will need to set up a digital account to receive this levy transfer and then you will need to link to your training provider via their UKPRN.