Over £1million unspent Apprenticeship Levy supports Liverpool City Region small businesses and apprentices

Over a million pounds has been transferred from Apprenticeship Levy employers into businesses across the City Region to support new apprenticeship starts.

Nine different Apprenticeship Levy organisations have transferred part of their Levy funds to 18 beneficiary organisations. So far, 240 apprentices have benefitted from this service. The transfer of these funds has been facilitated by the Skills Brokerage Service at Growth Platform, the Liverpool City Region’s Growth Company.

Apprenticeship Levy is paid by businesses with an annual wage bill of £3 million or more and can only be used for apprenticeship training and assessment. Any payments not used within 24 months are recovered by central government – but levy-paying employers can transfer up to 25 per cent of their contributions to support the apprenticeship needs of other businesses who do not have access directly to levy funds.

Joe Keegan, Team Leader for the Skills Brokerage Service at Growth Platform, said:

“Our levy-paying businesses can play a key role in supporting apprenticeships across our City Region by transferring unused levy to smaller local employers, helping them with the skills they need to grow as well as supporting people to progress within their chosen career. It is also about ensuring that revenue generated by large local businesses stays within the City Region to support local skills needs.

One of the receiving beneficiary organisations was Caritas, a charity based in Wirral. They said:

“The Skills Brokerage Team have been instrumental in helping us. Before speaking with them, we didn’t even know that a levy-transfer was possible! I could not recommend the team highly enough. Their knowledge, determination and professionalism almost pales in comparison to their passion, warmth and tenacity!”

Businesses across the City Region that have transferred their levy include, Liverpool Football Club, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and QVC.

Carmen Campbell, Vocational Training & Funding Partner at QVC said:

“QVC is delighted to be working with the Skills Brokerage Team in Growth Platform in order to identify beneficiary organisations looking to receive apprenticeship levy transfer. We are keen to ensure that local businesses benefit directly from our levy funds so they have an opportunity to develop the skills they need in their workforce.

“With the support of the Skills Brokerage team we have recently transferred apprenticeship levy funds to a third sector organisation and will continue to offer support, where we can, to other organisations within the Liverpool City Region.”

Businesses who are interested to find out more about how they can utilise or transfer their unspent Apprenticeship Levy funds, as well as those interested in accessing Levy funds, should contact the Skills Brokerage Service who provide free impartial advice and guidance to businesses across the Liverpool City Region.

For more information go to the website here.