The new Apprenticeship Levy will be launched in April 2017. We look at what this is and who will be affected by the government’s new levy.
What is the Apprenticeship Levy?
First of all, only employers with a wage bill of over £3m will be affected by the Apprenticeship Levy. The levy will be set at a rate 0.5% of an employer’s pay bill, but each employer will receive an allowance of £15,000 to offset against the levy.
Any employer with a wage bill of £3m or higher must adhere to the new rules, whether apprentices are employed or not.
The good news is that it is expected that only 2% of UK businesses will be affected by this new scheme.
All sectors
The new apprenticeship levy will apply to all sectors – including the charity sector who will not be exempt from adhering to this new scheme.
How is this levy paid?
The levy will be paid through the PAYE system alongside tax and National Insurance Contributions.
Apprenticeship funding
Any employer that is too small to fund the levy – roughly around 98% of those in England – will be eligible to receive 90% of training costs funded by the UK government. Along with this, employers and training providers that take on young apprentices aged 16 to 18 can claim extra support worth £2,000 per trainee.
Employers with fewer than 50 employees on their books can claim 100% of their training costs to be funded by the government if they take on apprentices or young care leavers. As well as this, there are to be 15 funding bands – with the caps ranging from £1,500 to £27,000 and, as previously stated, the plans will be launched in April 2017. The funding system will not be launched until a month later.
Employers that pay the levy
The new ‘digital apprenticeship service account’ will be the platform for employers to access government funding for apprenticeships to pay for the training. This service will also assist employers in finding training providers in order to deliver a successful apprenticeship programme.
This only applies to businesses in England; as separate arrangements will be made in regards to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Employers that do not pay the levy
From May 2017, when the new funding system is launched, employers can use the registers on the digital apprenticeship service to choose the type of training they wish the apprentice to receive, the training provider and an assessment organisation.
Employers that do not pay the levy will not need to use the digital apprenticeship service in order to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment until at least 2018.
Full steam ahead
The British Retail Consortium had called for a delay to the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy until at least 2018 which, according to it’s Chief Executive, Helen Dickinson, would “allow more time to design a truly viable system that delivers high quality training.”
The manufacturers’ organisation EEF had acknowledged that an increase in funding for topics such as maths, science and engineering would be a welcome change, but also warned that there should be a delay in the levy’s introduction.
Despite the calls to delay the introduction of the levy, it will go ahead as planned from April 2017
How can we help?
The Payroll team at Hawsons can guide you as you consider the impact that the new Apprenticeship Levy may have on your business. Our experienced employment tax specialists and in-house payroll team can assist your business with preparing for the new levy, including preparing your payroll system, dealing with associated payroll administration, financial modelling and advising you on ways of potentially mitigating the impact of the new costs.
Scott Sanderson
Scott Sanderson began his career with Hawsons and trained as a Chartered Accountant, becoming a partner in 2015, specialising in the healthcare sector and small businesses. For more details and advice, please contact Scott on ss@hawsons.co.uk or 0114 266 7141.[/author_info]