Levy Payments

Who Pays The Apprenticeship Levy?

If you’re an employer with a pay bill over £3 million each year, you must pay the apprenticeship levy from 6 April 2017. Read guidance on how to pay the apprenticeship levy.

You will report and pay your levy to HMRC through the PAYE process.

The levy will not affect the way you fund training for apprentices who started an apprenticeship programme before 1 May 2017. You’ll need to carry on funding training for these apprentices under the terms and conditions that were in place at the time the apprenticeship started.

 

Register To Use The Service

If you are a levy-paying employer, you need to create an account on the governmental website create an account on the apprenticeship service to:

  • receive levy funds for you to spend on apprenticeships
  • manage your apprentices
  • pay your training provider
  • stop or pause payments to your training provider

For non levy-paying employers, click on this link to access the Government's guidance for non-levy paying employers.

 

Spend Funds In Your Apprenticeship Service Account

To spend funds in your account, you need to:

1) Choose a training provider

2) Agree a price and payment schedule

3) Pay for training and assessment with funds through your apprenticeship service account

 

Top-ups And Expiry Of Funds

The government will automatically add 10% to the funds in your apprenticeship service account. They will apply this 10% top-up monthly, at the same time the funds enter your account.

Funds that you don’t use will expire 24 months after they enter your account. Whenever a payment for training is taken from your account, the service always uses the funds that entered your account first. Your apprenticeship service account will let you know when funds are due to expire.

 

Key facts you should know about the Apprenticeship Levy

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/key-facts-you-should-know-about-the-apprenticeship-levy

 

Government Levy Statistics

For statistics covering apprenticeship starts, apprenticeship service registrations and commitments click this link.

 

ESFA Apprenticeship Funding Rules (Education and Skills Funding Agency)

Training providers, employers and employer providers are all subject to the Education and Skills Funding Agency funding rules. The rules change every academic year. A link to the latest funding rules, which came into effect on 1st August, is show below.

Apprenticeship funding rules - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

For more information please contact Apprenticeship employer helpline:

Email: nationalhelpdesk@apprenticeships.gov.uk

Telephone: 0800 0150 600