Apprenticeship Levy payers in Scotland
12 October 2017
Employers in Scotland who are subject to the Apprenticeship Levy can access the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) to up-skill and re-skill their existing workforce.
The FWDF was developed in line with the Scottish Government’s 2016 consultation on the UK Government’s Apprenticeship Levy, and is part of a range of support for Scottish Levy payers, which includes the expansion of their Modern Apprenticeship programme.
The FWDF will provide employers with workforce development training to up-skill and re-skill their existing workforce.
It is in addition to apprenticeship support which all employers are eligible to access in Scotland; and, Individual Training Accounts (ITA’s) which provide eligible individuals with the opportunity to undertake learning opportunities to develop their skills for employment.
The one-year pilot fund will focus on the up-skilling and re-skilling of existing employees of any age. The Scottish Government has provided £10 million to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) for the FWDF to be made available through regional colleges and Scotland’s Rural College.
It is estimated there are around 4,000 levy payers operating in Scotland across the private, public and third sector. In this pilot year the fund will be £10 million and Ministers have therefore agreed that each levy payer will be able to access up to a maximum total of £10,000 in 2017/18.
Access for employers
Colleges will work with levy paying employers in their region to create a ‘training needs analysis’ which should form the basis of the application. A template will be provided for employers to submit to colleges with their identified training needs.
With the aim of managing initial employer demand, initial applications can be submitted to colleges during the period from 11 September to 15 December 2017. Providing the employer and training identified meets fund eligibility criteria, regional colleges will allocate funds on a first come first served basis.
Employers are required to submit evidence of their eligibility to pay the levy to accompany their application to the fund. This should take the form of a copy of the relevant part of the most recent Employer Payment Summary (EPS) which reports the level of Apprenticeship Levy contribution.
Further information
Full details are available on the Scottish Funding Council’s website.
Guidance for levy-paying employers has also been published by the SFC.