Funding Apprenticeships in Your Business

‌Funding an Apprenticeship

Employers can get help from the government to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment. The funding you are eligible for is determined by the number of people you employ, the annual payroll of your company, and the age of the apprentices you employ.

Large Employers

Organisations with a wage bill above £3 million are able to use their apprenticeship levy contributions to pay for the cost of tuition fees. Levy payments will be 0.5 per cent of your total wage bill, minus a £15,000 levy allowance. Those payments - and a 10 per cent government top-up - will fund apprenticeship course fees and any end-point assessment, up to the relevant funding cap.

Employers who do not have sufficient levy payments to cover the full cost of tuition fees, will also be eligible for the 95 per cent government funding. You can find out more about the Apprenticeship Levy on the GOV.UK website.

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Small Employers

Smaller employers, who do not pay the apprenticeship levy, share the cost of training and assessing their apprentices with the government; this is called ‘co-investment’. For new apprenticeships you pay 5% towards the cost of apprenticeship training. The government will pay the rest (95%) up to the funding band maximum.

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Additional Support

Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees hiring an apprentice under 19-years-of-age when the apprenticeship commences will pay no tuition fees at all.

All businesses employing an apprentice under 19-years-of-age, a care leaver up to 24-years-of-age, or an adult with additional needs will qualify for an extra support payment of £1,000.

Further Information

You can find out more about the costs of hiring an apprentice on the dedicated employers section of the apprenticeships.gov.uk website.

Employers are encouraged to use the Government's Recruit an Apprentice tool at https://www.gov.uk/recruit-apprentice to post vacancies and manage applications for apprenticeships.