12th August 2016

On 12th August, the Government published their proposals on how funding will work for companies who take on apprentices.

For those companies who pay less than £3m on their payroll, including SMEs, the new mandatory cash contribution from companies will be 10%. This is a considerable reduction compared to plans previously announced by the Government, when the proposal was that companies, including SMEs, would pay one third of the Apprenticeship training costs.

The Government has committed to fully paying the costs of English and maths training.

Incentive payments

• The Government is proposing to pay employers £1,000 if they take on a 16-18 year old, young care leavers and young people with an Education and Health Plan.

• The Government is proposing that employers with less than 50 employees will be exempt from paying 10% of the training costs if they employ a 16-18 year old, a young care leaver or a young people with an Education and Health Plan.
• For levy-paying companies (where payroll is over £3m per annum), those companies will receive a 10% monthly top up of the funds held in their Digital Apprenticeship Service account

The Government is consulting on these plans until 5th September, with final funding proposals being issued in October.

Click here for the full Department for Education guidance

Click here to fill in the Government consultation survey

Next steps

The current Government funding for apprenticeships is in place until 30th April 2017. Contact the College now on 08000 380 123 if you would like to take on an apprentice or access apprenticeship funding to up-skill your existing staff. Alternatively you can register your details here and we will be in touch, or come along to our next Open Evening on Thursday 1st September from 5-8pm.