Correspondence

Business Update - Issue 25 (September 2017)

Updated 1 November 2021

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You can read more about apprenticeships on GOV.UK.

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1. Apprenticeship benefits to your business

Inform

During August thousands of students across England received the outcome of their exams. With many individuals considering their options and next step, now is an ideal time for employers to consider offering apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships improve productivity and the quality of the product or service being delivered. Apprenticeship participation now stands at a record level - there were 509,400 apprenticeship starts in the 2015 to 2016 academic year of which 131,400 were under 19 and there are, on average, 23,000 apprenticeship opportunities listed on find an apprenticeship every month. 97% of apprentices tell us their ability to do their job had improved, and 92% of apprentices said their career prospects had improved by becoming an apprentice.

Find apprenticeship training can help employers looking to take on apprentices to search for apprenticeship training and find training providers to deliver this on your behalf.

Employers ready to recruit an apprentice, should also visit recruit an apprentice - a free to use online platform for posting apprenticeship vacancies through a registered training provider. These vacancies will appear in find an apprenticeship, a free recruitment search tool used by thousands of individuals. Vacancies are also channelled through to other popular recruitment sites allowing employers to reach even more candidates.

2. Don’t lose your apprenticeship funds

Inform

Employers with an annual pay bill in excess of £3 million (including groups of connected companies and charities who have annual pay bills over this amount) will need to pay the apprenticeship levy.

Employers must also be registered on the apprenticeship service to access their apprenticeship funds and spend them on apprenticeship training. Registering an account on the apprenticeship service is a quick simple process.

Once you have registered:

  1. Sign your agreement so you can spend levy funds.
  2. Register additional organisations to your account.
  3. Register additional PAYE schemes to your account.
  4. Decide the other team members you’re going to add to your account.
  5. Work with your chosen training provider to add your apprentices to your account.

Apprenticeship levy liability must be reported to HMRC through your usual monthly PAYE process by 19th of each month.

Help and support

Call the National Contact Centre helpline on 08000 150 600 or email helpdesk@manageapprenticeships.service.gov.uk.

3. WorldSkills UK

Inform

Apprenticeship reforms have changed the way apprenticeships are delivered and funded in England. The funding rules make provision for competition activity to be a funded element of your apprenticeship programme, either as part of the on the job delivery or the off the job training element. There is also scope to develop competitions as part of the end-point assessment.

WorldSkills UK is a partnership between government, business and education. It convenes experts from across the UK to run experiential careers advice events and skills competitions, delivering a programme of national skills competitions for young people (students and apprentices) in around 60 skills each year.

WorldSkills UK has now produced information notes for employers, colleges and training providers to explain the opportunities to use apprenticeship funding to support involvement in competitions. These look at the benefits and how it can be done, showing how apprenticeships can work with skills competitions to benefit both employers and apprentices.

For further information visit WorldSkills UK; contact getintouch@worldskillsuk.org or call: 0800 612 9742.

4. National Apprenticeship Awards – regional finalists announced

Inform

It has been announced that 91 employers and 84 individuals are competing for awards in ten categories in the regional stage of the National Apprenticeship Awards 2017, after beating off competition from almost 800 entries.

Find out more about the regional finalists, visit:

The 2017 awards, run by the National Apprenticeship Service and now in their 14th year, recognise employers and apprentices from across England. The awards recognise excellent businesses that grow their own talent with apprenticeships and apprentices, who have made a significant contribution to their workplaces.

Winners will be announced at regional ceremonies taking place during October.

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