Apprenticeship Featured Industry News

JTL seeks to help employers access over £3.3 billion of unused training funds

JTL, one of the leading apprenticeship providers in the building services engineering sector in England and Wales, is spreading the word on how Apprenticeship Levy funds can be transferred between employers to help pay for apprenticeship training.

The Apprenticeship Levy is a government mandated levy that must be paid by any company with a payroll of over £3 million. It asks that these companies contribute 0.5% of their annual payroll to a levy for taking on apprentices.

However, employers often don’t use all of the Apprenticeship Levy that they are obliged to pay, leaving a reported £3.3 billion of levy funds unspent since 2019. * 

As such, JTL is reminding levy-paying employers that they can transfer up to 25% of their paid, but unused, levy funds to another employer for use in support of their apprentice training.

Similarly, employers looking to receive a levy payment can request funding directly from another employer or from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). 

These funds could go towards the training of an apprentice provided by JTL, wherein an employer can receive a new member of their workforce that is supported and managed by a dedicated JTL training officer.

Companies that hire apprentices can increase the efficiency of their business through the onboarding of modern techniques taught to the learners during the practical qualification training that JTL provides them. If the learners are between 16-18, the entirety of this training can be paid for with levy funds.

Clair Bradley, Head of Funding at JTL, said: “The scale of the untapped levy fund shows just how huge the potential support for employers taking on apprentices truly is. 

“Since levy payments are an unavoidable cost for large employers, at JTL we felt it essential to remind businesses about the ability to transfer their unused funds, as it could end up being a great asset for other companies looking to spend on apprentice training.”

Levy transfers can be done through The Apprenticeship Service (TAS) portal on the gov.uk website.

To find out more about the benefits of recruiting an apprentice, please visit https://jtltraining.com/

*According to figures from The London Progression Collaboration (LPC) in July 2022