Apprenticeships are a great way to develop and upskill existing staff or bring new talent into your organisation.

Yet despite the success stories, many businesses are unaware of the funding available, how training is structured and how opportunities are advertised.

“Apprenticeships offer a real opportunity for businesses, but there is a lot of confusion over how funding can be applied – or perhaps they think it is only for young people and not for existing staff who may have been at the organisation for a number of years,” said Dr Danny Buckley, Apprenticeships lead at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s business school.

The good news is, whether you are a large corporation paying into the Government’s Apprenticeship Levy, or a small business with a commitment to nurturing the next generation, there are funding opportunities available to help you.

1. Large businesses, with a payroll of £3 million a year or more
All businesses with a wage bill of £3 million or more pay into the national Apprenticeship Levy. It is collected every month and put into an apprenticeship service account. You can then use this to pay for apprenticeships within your organisation. Funds have to be spent within 24 months, or it goes back to the Government.

Some large companies choose to transfer their levy funds to community schemes that support smaller, non-Levy organisations with funding apprenticeships, through their Apprenticeship Services account.

2. Employers who do not pay into the Apprenticeship levy
Companies can get Government funding if they do not pay into the levy, or want to spend more on apprenticeship training than they have in their apprenticeship service account.

You can still access substantial government funding to bolster your commitment to apprenticeships. This support requires a financial contribution, known as a ‘co-investment,’ from the employer. The co-investment is set at 5% of the total apprenticeship training cost, with the government covering the remaining 95%.

The co-investment payments are made directly to the training provider delivering the apprenticeship programme.

3. Small and Medium Sized Businesses
The Government is keen to encourage more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take on apprenticeships and has different funding programmes in place.  If you have fewer than 50 employees you will be eligible for 100% funding for individuals aged 16-18 (or 19-24 if they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan or have been in care).

If you are an SME with more than 50 staff, you will be eligible for 95% funding.

Want to find out more?
DMU has been delivering apprenticeships since 2016 and has been rated Good by Ofsted for the way in which it runs its courses and supports apprentices on their learning journey.

If you’d like to know more about whether apprenticeships could work for your company, or want to inquire about specific courses we would love to hear from you. Email us: apprenticeships@dmu.ac.uk and one of the team will be in touch or visit dmu.ac.uk/apprenticeships