There are still many employers who do not know they can upskill their workforce through apprenticeships. Or, if they do, employers often still ask us ‘what is the apprenticeship levy?’ or tell us that they thought apprenticeships were only for school leavers or those aged 16-18.

This means that our training division still has an opportunity to educate others on the numerous benefits of apprenticeships. And, with the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) reporting that the most frequent response to the labour shortage in the current climate has been to upskill their existing staff, the benefit of apprenticeships for the workforce is seemingly amplified in the current employment landscape.

In this article, we will cover:

• What are Apprenticeships and who are they for?
• What is the Apprenticeship Levy?
• How do we help you to access the Levy?
• How does this fit into our process?

What are Apprenticeships and who are they for?

Apprenticeships are programmes that allow the apprentice to upskill, learn skills and gain valuable experience while earning money at the same time. Many people still have the perception that they are exclusively for school leavers as an alternative route to university. The truth is, though, that apprenticeships are for anyone over the age of 16.

This means that whether: you are just starting your career and want to gain skills to aid your future development; you have just been promoted and want to develop your skills to assist your performance in your new role; or, you are more experienced and want to optimise your role to make it more efficient, learn new ways of working and develop your knowledge further – then apprenticeships are for you.

At Siamo, the way that our training division deliver apprenticeships is by partnering with employers. Whether we integrate into an employers’ existing learning and development team or work with them as their external training partner to devise a bespoke training plan, our apprenticeship delivery focuses on upskilling those learners that are already in employment.

The courses that we offer are:

• Level 3 Team Leader or Supervisor
• Level 3 Digital Marketer
• Level 3 Customer Service Specialist
• Level 4 Sales Executive
• Level 5 Operations or Departmental Manager
• Level 7 Senior Leader

However, one caveat to the levy is that the apprenticeships that we provide are only available to employers based in England. Or, if the employer themselves is not wholly based in England, the employee who wants to enrol in an apprenticeship with us must spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in England.

What is the Apprenticeship Levy?

The apprenticeship levy is a method of taxation that has the purpose of making apprenticeship training more accessible to companies across England.

The companies that are required to pay into the apprenticeship levy are those companies with a payroll of more than £3 million – the apprenticeship threshold.

The levy is charged at 0.5% of an employer’s total payroll, and is collected monthly through PAYE. Afterwards, these funds are stored by the government for later use.

How do we help you to access the Levy?

The way that you access the apprenticeship levy as an employer depends on whether you pay into the levy yourself. This also means that our process for assisting you to access the levy will be different.

If you pay the Apprenticeship Levy

If you pay into the apprenticeship levy, you will get funds to spend on apprenticeship training, depending on how much you pay into the levy. We can help you to figure out how much this is.

The government will then top up your funds by 10%.

If you do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy

If you do not pay into the apprenticeship levy, you would be required to pay 5% of the total apprenticeship cost. With Siamo Training, this is collected monthly through PAYE, and we would facilitate the payment. The government will pay the rest – 95%!

However, if your apprentice started before 1 April 2019, you need to contribute 10% towards the apprenticeship cost, with the government paying 90%. This rate continues until your apprentice completes their training.

The benefit of working with a training provider such as Siamo Training, however, is that we can help to facilitate a levy transfer – meaning that you can still access 100% fully-funded apprenticeships!

In this case, we would contact a levy paying company who has excess levy funds that they do not plan to use, and then facilitate a transfer of this levy to you, so that you can fully-fund your apprenticeship training.

In either case, if you are looking to manage your funding or provider payments, you can log in to your apprenticeships service account.

How does this fit into our process?

Helping you to access the levy is only one aspect of our apprenticeship process. We believe that acting as a true partner for your learning and development journey is a vital part of being a training provider, so we aim to take a holistic approach to our partnership.

Firstly, we will sit with you to assess your business’ current position, your existing and future needs, and the timeframe that you want to achieve your objectives within. We also consider your organisational structure; as our apprenticeships are offered at different levels ranging from Level 3 to Level 7, it means that we can potentially design a learning structure that allows learners to progress from one apprenticeship to another, as they move up the organisational structure within your business. Or, we can offer the apprenticeships in isolation – it just depends on your needs.

After completing the situational needs analysis and outlining our training delivery plan, we will start delivery of the apprenticeship. We try to be as flexible as possible in our delivery, and can run our courses:

• Onsite
• Via Microsoft Teams
• In a group setting

No matter which delivery route you choose, we aim to ensure that the training quality remains consistent to a high level.

Getting started

If you want to find out more about our apprenticeship delivery, want a course brochure or simply want to get started with the process, please contact our Training Director, David Bacon at d.bacon@siamogroup.com