Information for Employers

Recruiting your apprentices

As your training provider, we can help support you with the process of recruiting an Apprentice.

Online

We will list your vacancy on the National Apprenticeship Service website, the most widely used database for apprenticeships across the country.

As well as this we recommend that you advertise your apprenticeship roles on your own website, as you would for any other role. 

Open Evenings and Assessment Centres

We hold a number of Open Evenings specifically for Apprenticeships, which give you an ideal opportunity to make contact with potential candidates.

As part of our service we can also offer you support with your own assessment process, by attending and contributing to your assessment centres or interviews.

Funding and the Levy

Businesses can use their Apprenticeship levy contributions towards the cost of tuition fees for their Apprentices. 

The funding each organisation is eligible for is determined by a number of factors including, annual payroll, age of learner(s) and number of people employed. 

The Apprenticeship Funding Flowchart will help you navigate this.

Organisations with a wage bill above £3 million

As an employer with a pay bill of more than £3 million, you’re required to pay the apprenticeship levy. You can manage funds using the apprenticeship service and spend it on training and assessing your apprentices.
The government will apply a 10% top up to the funds you have in your account.
If you don’t have enough funds, you just pay 5% of the outstanding balance and the government will pay the rest. This is up to the funding band maximum allocated to each specific apprenticeship such as those offered by the University of Winchester.

Support small businesses by transferring your unused levy funds

You can use your apprenticeship service account to transfer up to 25% of your unused levy funds to a business of your choice.  
By transferring levy funds, you will be supporting other businesses in paying for their apprenticeship training and assessment costs (up to the funding band maximum). 
When creating a pledge, you can select how much funding will be available for that financial year. You can also choose which businesses you’d like to support by selecting optional sector, skill or location criteria.
For more information regarding funding an apprenticeship, please click on the link below:

Funding an apprenticeship (apprenticeships.gov.uk)

Organisations with a wage bill below £3 million

As an employer that doesn’t pay the apprenticeship levy, you pay just 5% towards the cost of training and assessing an apprentice.  You will need to reserve funding to cover the costs of the apprenticeship training and assessment, for more information regarding this, please click here.
The government will pay the rest up to the funding band maximum.
You’ll pay the training provider directly and agree on a payment schedule.
If you employ fewer than 50 employees, the government will pay 100% of the apprenticeship training costs up to the funding band maximum for apprentices aged:
•    16 to 18
•    19 to 24 with an education, health and care plan provided by their local authority or previously having been in the care of their local authority
This is up to the funding band maximum allocated to each specific apprenticeship such as those offered by the University of Winchester.

For more information regarding funding an apprenticeship, please click on the link below:

Funding an apprenticeship (apprenticeships.gov.uk)

Spread the word so employers don’t miss out

Employers will get an extra £1,000 when they take on an apprentice:
•    aged 16 to 18
•    aged 19 to 24 who has either:
o    previously been in care
o    Has an education, health and care plan provided by their local authority

This is to help with additional costs.  The DfE pays this to employers in 2 equal instalments: at 90 days and 365 days.  It makes the payments to employers via their training provider, who will pass the money on. These payments are not deducted from an employer’s apprenticeship service account. Employers who get the small employer co-investment waiver will also receive these payments.
To receive the full payment, the apprenticeship must last for at least one year.

What can you buy with funds in your apprenticeship service

You can only use funds in your account to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment for apprentices that work at least 50% of the time in England, and only up to the funding band maximum for that apprenticeship. We define the workplace as the physical place of work, designated by the employer. It is where the employer expects the apprentice to spend most of their time during their apprenticeship (50% or more). Employers must confirm the workplace location as part of their written agreement with the main training provider in the evidence pack for each apprentice.

If the costs of training and assessment go over the funding band maximum, you will need to pay the difference with other funds from your own budget.

You can’t use funds in your account to pay for the other costs associated with your apprentices (such as wages, travel and subsidiary costs or setting up of an apprenticeship programme).

For further information about making your Apprenticeship Levy payments, and how to use them, please see the government’s apprenticeship funding pages.