Maximise your apprenticeship funding
25 August 2017
The following information was published in the August edition (67) of HMRC’s Employer Bulletin.
During August, thousands of people will be considering their next steps as they receive their exam results. This makes August an ideal time for employers to consider how they might maximise the apprenticeship funding available to them, either through the Apprenticeship Levy or government co-investment, to benefit their business and their sector.
Apprenticeships are now more rigorous, better structured, independently assessed and aligned to the needs of your business. With trailblazing employers designing higher quality apprenticeship standards, you can have greater confidence than ever that apprentices are trained in the relevant skills employers need, bringing value to your organisation.
If you are ready to recruit then find an apprenticeship on GOV.UK is a free recruitment solution used by thousands of employers. The vacancies are also channelled through to other popular recruitment sites such as Indeed Jobs, allowing you to reach even more candidates.
Using your funding
If you are a levy-paying employer, you should have registered on the Apprenticeship Service and started to report and pay your Apprenticeship Levy to HMRC each month.
You can search for apprenticeship training using find apprenticeship training. Once you have registered on the Apprenticeship Service:
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Sign your agreement to allow you to spend funds on apprenticeships
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Add one or more organisations
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Add PAYE schemes
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Decide the other team members you’re going to add to your account
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Add apprentices to your account, otherwise your provider will not get paid
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Declare your Apprenticeship Levy by the 19th of each month to secure your levy funds for that month
If no apprentices are added to your account, your chosen provider will not be paid. The data they submit must match the information you have approved for each apprentice in your Apprenticeship Service account.
As a non-levy paying employer, guidance is available on the steps you need to take to recruit an apprentice.
Help and support
National Contact Centre helpline - 08000 150 600 and email [email protected] for help with:
- Technical queries about the Apprenticeship Service
- General levy information and queries
- Accessing the service (accessing your Apprenticeship Levy funds and advice about the provider payment process)
Log onto GOV.UK and search for Apprenticeship Levy for help with the following queries:
- General levy collection
- Calculating the levy
- Connected company questions
- Calculating the English percentage
Further guidance about the Apprenticeship Levy is available on GOV.UK.
Business Tax Account (BTA)
At present, the Apprenticeship Levy charge will be shown within an employer’s HMRC BTA on the summary page where the Levy charge will be included in the amount that employers owe. Under this figure it will show ‘includes Apprenticeship Levy bill of £…’
An employer’s levy charge is not currently available to view within the existing Liabilities and Payments viewer.
Read more from the August edition (67) of HMRC’s Employer Bulletin.