Small firms could create a million new apprenticeships with the right support from the government, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has said.
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A poll conducted by London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) found more than a third of London business decision makers would like to be able to use funds from the government’s new apprenticeship levy on alternative streams of training.
Around 98% of employers in England will have 90% of the costs connected to the apprenticeship levy met by government, under proposals announced this morning.
For science, technology, engineering and maths framework pathways, the government is proposing to increase the government-funded adult rate by 40 per cent at level 2 and 80 per cent at level 3 and above, and then allocate these frameworks to the nearest funding band. This finally will stop the speculation about the future of Apprenticeships and will mean that employers can plan for the implementation of the Levy and how they will utilise the funds in driving forward their Apprenticeship plans. This “takes into account the fact that employers of these apprentices are now disproportionately likely to be paying extra to providers on top of the funding provided by government”. The successful introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy is now absolutely vital to the future of our sector and our nation – Semta is totally committed to help make this happen.
Businesses that do pay the levy (ie with a paybill of over £3m) will be eligible for a top up of 10 per cent every monthly.
The levy is a tax on large employers with paybills over £3million.
The AELP says that the government is right to press ahead with the levy, but that it is anxious about the impact on small business.
These employers will be able to fund their Apprenticeship training using an approved provider like 3aaa. To limit this, the FSB has called on the government to improve its small employer incentive. 3aaa are already talking to a number of employers who have already started the process of how they will invest their Levy funds and in fact a number have started an Apprenticeship programme prior to April because the programme is now funded by the Government.
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Robert Halfon, the newly appointed Apprenticeships and Skills Minister said today: “We need to make sure people of all ages and backgrounds have a chance to get on in life. This will give our young people the chance they deserve in life and to build a highly-skilled future workforce that the United Kingdom needs”.
