- What is the Apprenticeship Levy?
- How is the Apprenticeship Levy Impacting Training Providers?
- What is the RoATP?
- How Many Training Providers are already on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP)?
- How to Become an Apprenticeship Training Provider on the RoATP
- How are Other Training Providers Including Apprenticeships into their Strategy?
- Why Have Some Apprenticeship Training Providers Been Removed from the RoATP?
- How Much are Companies Spending on Apprenticeship training?
- What are companies looking for from an Apprenticeship Training Provider?
- Who Pays for Apprenticeship Training?
- How Do Apprenticeship Training Providers get Paid for Apprenticeship Training?
- How to Market Your Apprenticeship Training Courses
What is the Apprenticeship Levy?
The Apprenticeship Levy is used to fund apprenticeship training. It is paid by employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million.
Employers eligible to pay the Levy can spend their Levy funds on apprenticeship training. The government will also contribute additional funding based on the apprenticeship training standard they have selected. Find out more about apprenticeship funding.
Companies that are not required to pay the levy are still eligible for funding from the government. Non-levy paying employers will share the cost of training and assessing their apprentices with government. This is called 'co-investment'. Companies will pay 10% towards to the cost of apprenticeship training and government will pay the rest (90%), up to the funding band maximum.
How is the Apprenticeship Levy Impacting Training Providers?
It’s an exciting time to be an apprenticeship training provider. From April 2017 the UK Government is introducing a new tax – The Apprenticeship Levy – to help employers fund and train more apprentices.
The levy funds will be spent on approved apprenticeship training offered by eligible training providers. Eligibility requires training organisations to be listed on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP).
Training providers who are approved to provide this training are expected to see a bump in business when companies start to utilise the new funding system.
What is the RoATP?
The RoATP stands for the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers. It is a list being compiled by the UK Government to list all approved apprenticeship training providers.
Organisations that are listed on the RoATP have been through an application process with the ESFA that considers due diligence, capability, quality and financial health to assess their capability to deliver high-quality apprenticeship training.
In order to be eligible to deliver apprenticeship training for apprenticeships organisations must be listed on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP).
How Many Training Providers are already on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP)?
According to our survey, 14% of professional training providers are on the RoATP and delivering apprenticeship training and more are planning to get on the register in the coming year.
Of the providers who intend to be delivering apprenticeships this year, over half predict that up to 20% of their year’s turnover will come from apprenticeship training. Encouraging projections for the relatively new levy system.
How to Become an Apprenticeship Training Provider on the RoATP
All organisations and training providers that want to deliver apprenticeship training will need to meet the requirements of the register of apprenticeship training providers.
The requirements of the register include due diligence checks on your organisation and directors, financial checks and an assessment of your organisation’s capability to deliver high-quality apprenticeship training.
There are 3 application routes onto the register: a main route, an employer-provider route and a supporting route.
How are Other Training Providers Including Apprenticeships into their Strategy?
For training providers, now is the time to prepare for emerging opportunities in the apprenticeship training market. Deliver more standards. Market your services. Hone your expertise and offer consultations. Find out what other providers are doing:
Why Have Some Apprenticeship Training Providers Been Removed from the RoATP?
The UK Government removes apprenticeship training providers from the register if they no longer meet the requirements. This includes removing a provider that receives an inadequate Ofsted grade for apprenticeships.
How Much are Companies Spending on Apprenticeship training?
It is forecast that the Apprenticeship Levy will raise £2.7 billion in 2018-19. In theory, that’s a minimum of £2.7 billion that employers could access to spend on apprenticeship training with one or more of the c.2,500 training providers on the government’s Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP).
Although only around 2% of employers pay the levy in the UK (which equates to around 19,000 companies), it is estimated that at least 60% of employees work for an employer who pays the levy.
In the public sector, apprenticeships are a requirement. All employers with 250 employees or more in England must employ new apprentices amounting to 2.3% of their headcount each year. It’s an exciting time for providers to be offering apprenticeship training.
What are companies looking for from an Apprenticeship Training Provider?
In an apprenticeships survey conducted by findcourses.co.uk in 2018, employers indicated that they are looking for holistic services from their apprenticeship training providers.
This means they are looking for a provider who can help them source apprentices, deliver the training, and offer consultation on their levy strategy and spend. If you have the potential to deliver extra services, this may well give you the upper hand.
Who Pays for Apprenticeship Training?
Companies pay for apprenticeship training using their levy, if they are a levy-paying company. They are required to fund a proportion of the apprenticeship training and the government will provide extra funds depending on the funding band of the apprenticeship standard they have selected.
Companies that are not required to pay the levy pay 10% towards the cost of the apprenticeship training and the government funds the rest.
How Do Apprenticeship Training Providers get Paid for Apprenticeship Training?
The government will pay 80% of the agreed price of the apprenticeship training, up to the funding band, in monthly installments to the training provider. The government will then pay the remaining balance of the agreed price, up to the funding band, when the apprentice has undertaken all learning that is relevant to the apprenticeship.
How to Market Your Apprenticeship Training Courses
The Apprenticeship Levy doesn’t just impact the training industry, it affects the education system as a whole. As such, many further education institutions are offering a range of higher apprenticeships targeting both individuals and businesses looking to utilise the levy. As it stands, around 16% of the RoATP is made up of universities and colleges, although this number is growing steadily.
Private training companies wanting to advertise their apprenticeship training courses need to market their services effectively and make sure they are being seen by both levy paying and non-levy paying companies. Working with smaller, non-levy-paying employers may not result in major, country-wide apprenticeship contracts, but non-levy-payers make up the bulk of UK business, and this should not be overlooked.
Apprentices from smaller companies could make up a cohort for day/block release training, culminating in more sizeable payoffs. Our dedicated apprenticeship training search engine helps employers find training for their apprentices.