A package of reforms to the Apprenticeship Levy has been announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Conservative Party conference.
At the heart of the reforms is an extra £90 million of government funding which will enable employers to invest a quarter of their apprenticeship funds on people working for businesses in their supply chain. This should boost the number able to benefit from high-quality apprenticeship training.
Philip Hammond said that the changes aimed to provide greater flexibility to businesses so they can take advantage of the benefits of employing apprentices. He also wants to help as many people as possible to find the right training to equip them for the new economy.
Hammond said: “We have heard the concerns about how the apprenticeship levy is working… so today we’ve set out a series of measures to allow firms more flexibility in how the levy is spent.
“But we know that we may need to do more to ensure that the levy supports the development of the skilled workforce our economy needs. So in addition to these new flexibilities, we will engage with business on our plans for the long-term operation of the levy.”
As well as allowing employers to spend a quarter of their levy on people working in their supply chain, a further £5 million has been allocated to the Institute for Apprenticeships to introduce new standards and update existing ones so that more courses can be offered.
Old frameworks will be discontinued so that all new apprenticeships will be on the same higher-quality standards by the start of the 2020/21 academic year.
The government is expected to set out a process to seek views on the operation of the levy after 2020 in the coming weeks. This is to ensure the levy supports the development of the skilled workforce businesses need for the new economy.
