The government has been making changes to apprenticeship funding. It introduced apprenticeship levy funds for all UK employers on 6 April 2017. Payment of the levy is mandatory for employers with a pay bill exceeding £3 million each year, or if they are connected to another employer that has such a pay bill.
With regards to this policy promise, the Department for Education stated that from April 2018, levy-paying employers could transfer funds to other employers through the apprenticeship service. Receivers can be any employers, including smaller ones in the same supply-chain as the firm making the transfer, or apprenticeship training agencies. Levy-paying employers could transfer a maximum amount of 10% of the annual value of funds entering their apprenticeship service account. 10% of all funds received in this way count as state aid, with a maximum permissible amount of two million euros over three years. The first payments were scheduled for July 2018.
Following low take-up of the scheme, the October 2018 Budget announced an increase in permissible transfer amounts from 10% up to 25%.
Despite problems convincing businesses to use the scheme, the promise to allow large firms to pass levy funds to small firms has been fulfilled, so this policy is ‘done’.
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