Apprenticeship Funding

How Apprenticeships Are Funded

As an employer, you can either access funding via the Apprenticeship Levy or by accessing 95% of the cost through government funding. You can make additional savings by not having to pay employer National Insurance for apprentices under the age of 25.

Non-levy payers – if your annual wage bill is less than £3m:
Apprenticeships are 95% government-funded so you pay 5% contribution which is invoiced when an apprentice starts with you.

• The cost of the apprenticeship will be agreed with you at the start and will be documented on the Training Plan and Standards Agreement.
• You will need to register on the Digital Apprenticeship Service prior to employing an apprentice to access the government funding. NBC can assist you with the registration process.

Non-levy funding by age of the apprentice:

• 16-21 years old – fully government funded
• 21+ years old – 5% contribution

Levy paying employers – if your annual payroll is over £3m:
This applies to companies who have an annual payroll of over £3 million. Companies pay 0.5% of their pay bill directly into a fund, the government then adds an extra 10%.
You will pay into your levy fund through PAYE every month and the funds expire after 24 months if you don’t use them.
Your levy allocation will be managed through a digital account which will allow you to:

• receive levy funds to spend on apprenticeships
• manage your apprentices
• pay your training provider
• stop or pause payments to your training provider