apprenticeship levy | FE Week

DfE figures reveal colleges hit hardest by move to apprenticeship levy funding

Colleges were hit hardest by the move to apprenticeship levy funding, FE Week analysis of new figures published by the Department for Education have revealed. The statistics, which included the number of starts per provider for the first time, showed that colleges’ share of the market dropped from 31 to 26 per cent from 2016/17 to […]

Damian Hinds reacts to concerns that spend on apprenticeships is soaring

The education secretary didn’t deny that the apprenticeships budget is heading for a £500 million overspend this year, when he was quizzed about it by FE Week. Damian Hinds was asked whether he acknowledged the Institute for Apprenticeships’ concern, revealed in a presentation by its chief operating officer Robert Nitsch last week, that “we are […]

Urgent levy reform demanded for nursing degree apprenticeships

Nursing degree apprenticeship start targets will be missed without urgent reform to how the apprenticeship levy can be spent, MPs have been warned. There has been an extremely slow take-up so far, with only 30 starts up to the end of January this year, the Commons education committee was told in a specially convened hearing. […]

Leicester city council in row over ‘brokerage-style’ levy deal

Leicester city council is the latest public body accused of diverting apprenticeship levy funding away from frontline learning via a brokerage-style deal with a third party. It awarded a contract to a firm known as Salad Skills last October, to operate as a “quality-assurance partner”. This role involves identifying suitable providers to train the council’s […]

Government cashes in on levy brokerage

Providers training apprentices for the civil service will be subject to a controversial new brokerage charge from the top tier of government which will recoup millions of pounds. Candidates to train government apprentices were told to register with the Crown Commercial Service, and a group of 16 were chosen. These were given access to at […]

DfE hands out £2m for more levy research

An FE-focused research centre has been given the ministerial nod to continue its work until 2020, and the apprenticeship levy will be particularly in focus. The Centre for Vocational Educational Research had its mid-term review at the beginning of this year. After an initial £3 million grant from the Department for Education in May 2015, […]

Apprenticeship levy transfer policy explained

The government has explained how employers which pay the apprenticeship levy will be able to transfer funds to other organisations from April for the first time. Large employers have been forced to pay the levy since it was launched last April, but they have only been able to spend the funding generated on their own […]

How to increase apprenticeship starts

The levy has had more than its share of teething problems, but it’s not time to bin it yet, says Kathleen Henehan The apprenticeship levy got off to a troubling start: figures show a 59-per-cent fall in starts during its first three months. This seems to confirm fears that it would place incentives into the hands of large employers who don’t typically […]

Levy cash must be used to widen access to apprenticeships

The AoC’s Teresa Frith believes that the chancellor should make tweaks to apprenticeship funding, rather than wholesale changes Apprenticeships are an increasingly important part of the long-term plan for workforce development, enhanced productivity and social inclusion in England. The government’s reform programme is aimed at ensuring apprenticeships in England become more rigorous and more responsive […]