Correspondence

Business Update - Issue 71 (September 2021)

Updated 1 November 2021

This correspondence was withdrawn on 21 September 2023

This page has been withdrawn as it is out of date.

You can read more about apprenticeships on GOV.UK.

You can find the latest from ESFA in our weekly newsletter, ESFA Update.

Applies to England

In this edition of Business Update, our round-up of business-critical news and information from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA):

Please share Business Update with your colleagues who might like to register for web alerts. This will notify them by email when we add new editions of Business Update to GOV.UK.

For more information about apprenticeships, you can visit apprenticeships.gov.uk or call 08000 150 600.

Pledge and transfer apprenticeship levy fund

A new service to help businesses offer apprenticeships was launched on 13 September. This service enables employers who pay the apprenticeship levy (those with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million) to pledge unspent levy funds (up to their 25% transfer allowance) to support apprenticeships in other businesses through a new online service.

All businesses will be able to see these transfer opportunities on GOV.UK and apply for funding to pay for 100% of their apprenticeship training and assessment costs (up to the funding band maximum).

Financial Incentive payments for hiring a new apprentice or trainee

As announced in the Budget 2021, businesses in England can apply for financial incentives for apprenticeships, traineeships, and T Levels. As the economy recovers from the impact of Covid-19, these programmes will be more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need to recover and grow – both now and in the long-term.

Apprenticeships – limited time to register for incentive payment!

Employers can claim a new payment of £3,000 for each apprentice they take on as a new employee between 1 April and 30 September 2021. The payment will be made directly to you, the employer, and you can choose how you spend this incentive. It is paid in addition to the £1,000 available to you for hiring an apprentice aged 16 to 18 years old and those under 25 with an education, health and care plan or who has been in the care of their local authority.

Please note, you must have an apprenticeship service account if you want to apply for an incentive payment.

Traineeships

You can also claim £1,000 per young person placement (up to 10 incentive payments per employer, per region) for traineeship work placements between 1 September 2020 and 31 July 2022. Traineeships help prepare young people aged 16 to 24, or 25 with an education, health and care plan, for employment or an apprenticeship.

T Levels

In addition, employers can claim £1,000 cash boost for every T Level they host on a high-quality industry placement between 27 May 2021 and July 2022. T Levels are an exciting new technical programme for 16 to 19-year-olds, that are the equivalent to three A Levels.

Increased cash incentives for employers hiring new apprentices is just one of a number of offers available to employers considering hiring employees, offering work experience or upskilling existing staff through various skills and employment programmes, such as the Kickstart Scheme.

If you’d like to learn more about these offers, as part of Plan for Jobs, please visit the employer skills hub on GOV.UK.

Launching 9 September: ‘My apprenticeship’ accounts

This new service will help new apprentices to fully understand their apprenticeship and the support available. It will help employers and training providers to ensure all details are correct and the onboarding process is smooth.

Action: add apprentice email addresses

From 9 September, the employer or training provider must add a unique email address when adding an apprentice record to the apprenticeship service, including bulk uploads. This can be the apprentice’s personal, college or work email address, but not a group email address. Without a unique email address, you will not be able to bulk upload, save or approve the apprentice record, so funding cannot be allocated.

Once the email address is added to the apprentice record, the apprentice will receive an email invitation to create a ‘My apprenticeship’ account. Whilst the setting up of a ‘My apprenticeship’ account is encouraged, it is not mandatory and will not impact the apprenticeship start date or your apprenticeship funding.

Access the latest versions of apprenticeship standards

Apprenticeship standards outline what an apprentice will be doing and the skills required of them, by job role. All apprenticeship standards begin at version 1.0. The content of standards is reviewed regularly, and when changes are made, new versions of standards are published with an updated version number.

Soon, when you or your training provider add a future apprentice to your apprenticeship service account, they will be automatically assigned to the latest version of your chosen apprenticeship standard, based on the planned start date for the apprentice. You will also be able to upgrade existing apprentices onto the latest versions of their apprenticeship standards.

This will ensure your apprentices receive training and assessment in line with the latest industry requirements, and your business can benefit from their up-to-date skills. We will share more details once the new functionality is live.

Apprenticeships Fire It Up Campaign – Removal of Advert and Music Track

As a result of ongoing work to integrate Government Communications for young people about education, training and work, the Department for Education will no longer run the Fire it Up advertising campaign. Instead, future communications will focus on promoting all the options available to young people at post-16 and post-18 to help them make an informed choice about their future.

As a consequence of this change we will not be renewing the license for the Busta Rhymes ‘Fire it Up’ music track used in the apprenticeships TV advert. The current licence runs out in September and we can no longer feature the advert or music on any channels promoting apprenticeships.

If you currently use this we would be grateful if you could stop doing so immediately.

The blue feather logo which accompanied the campaign is still approved for use on all materials, as is the campaign photography which can still be used on digital platforms (but not in print).

If you have any questions about using the Fire It Up campaign brand or assets please contact Marcomms.Mailbox@education.gov.uk.

Support

The Business Support Helpline number in England is:

Freephone :0800 998 1098

The helpline provides free, impartial business support and signposting services to businesses in England – which currently includes business advice on COVID-19.

You can also find free support, advice and sources of finance through your local growth hub or speak to an advisor on webchat about support for your business.

DfE coronavirus helpline: 0800 046 8687