Education | Employers still failing to take advantage of Apprenticeship Levy

Almost two years after the implementation of the Apprenticeship Levy, apprenticeship start figures have continued to fall – research from City & Guilds has found.

The levy was designed to increase investment in apprenticeship training and assessment. According to guidelines from the Department for Education (DfE), an employer paying £10,000 a month into their levy account would receive that £10,000 back to spend on apprenticeships, plus a ten per cent contribution from the Government.

However, responding to a Freedom of Information request from the City & Guilds Group, the DfE confirmed that in 2017/18, it received an annual apprenticeships budget of £2.01billion from the Treasury. Of this, it appears that only £268million was spent by levy-paying employers on apprentices.

Of the remainder, some £1.065billion was spent on pre-levy training; £189million on apprentices for non-levy paying employers; and £58million on maintaining the apprenticeship programme and service, and on learners still funded under legacy areas of policy such as the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers and the Employer Ownership programme.