1. The Apprenticeships Reforms 2017
1st March 2017, Plymouth Pavilions

2. The apprenticeship reforms 2017 - content
Apprenticeship Reforms refresh
Public Sector Targets
Levy and co-investment
Apprenticeship Service
Plan your apprenticeship programme; funding bands; additional support
Choose apprenticeship training
Manage apprenticeship funding – the levy account
Recruit an apprentice
Key milestones

3. Ambitious Government reforms
Replace apprenticeship frameworks by 2020
New Institute for Apprenticeships
Same legal protection to degrees
Apprenticeship target for public sector bodies
Secondary Class 1 NICs abolished (April 2016)
Underpinned by apprenticeship levy and apprenticeship service

4. Apprenticeship reforms
The Institute will take the lead on a number of ongoing reforms to improve the apprenticeships system.
There are three defining features of the emerging system that the Institute will regulate:
Employer-designed apprenticeship standards and assessment plans
Graded end point apprenticeship assessments
External quality assurance of end point assessments

5. Apprenticeship target for Public Sector Bodies
Government response to Jan.2016 consultation January 2017.
Target = 2.3% of headcount (employees in England) as apprenticeship starts (new recruits + existing staff development). Enterprise Act 2016.
Duty and have “regard” to the target
Applies to employers in the sector with >250 employees. (Not GP’s or Dental Practices).
Financial year reporting period. Effective from 1st April Report within 6mths. of y/end

6. Key features: Apprenticeship levy
A quick reminder on what the key features are which I know as an informed audience you will be aware of by now
The levy is a new UK tax that will enable the funding of apprenticeship training
Just over 2 months way, From April 17 it will affect the very largest employers, including public sector bodies and some Mid-Sized Employers.
Those employers whose annual pay bill is more £3m, up to 2% of the employer population, will be charged ½ per cent of their pay bill.
Employers will have a £15,000 annual levy allowance to offset against their levy liability. This is not a cash payment and will be explained in greater detail at a later point in our HMRC presentation.
Connected companies or connected charities may have to pay despite having a pay bill of less than £3 million individually, if their group has a pay bill of over £3million. This is because connected companies or charities will only have one £15,000 allowance to share between employers in the group.
A huge investment in making this work – large employers, why today, why support through account manager, why roadshows to ensure you have info you need and all questions as far as we can. If we can’t we’ll take them away and get back to you.

7. Funding support (Co-Investment)
Two types of employers:
Employers who haven’t paid the levy
A levy-paying employer with insufficient funds .

8. Accessing levy funds to spend on apprenticeship training
Levy funds will be available through a new apprentievship service on gov.uk
First funds appear in account in late May 2017
How funds in the account will be calculated
If 100% of UK pay bill is in England
100% of levy payment in digital account
If 80% of UK pay bill is in England
80% of levy payment in digital account
10% government top up to monthly funds entering your digital account

9. Purchasing training – all employers
New funding system comes into effect on 1 May 2017
Apprenticeships started before 1 May will be funded through to completion according to the existing rules
The cost will be spread over the lifetime of the apprenticeship
We will hold back 20% of the total cost, to be paid on completion of the apprenticeship
Levied employers buying training from May 2017
Can commit to apprenticeship starts from the beginning of May
Funds will automatically leave the digital account on a monthly basis
The new funding system comes into effect on 1 May 2017, because May is the first month that levy paying employers will declare a levy payment to HMRC.
All apprenticeships started before 1 May will be funded through to completion according to the existing funding rules. Any employer contribution towards training commenced before 1 May will also continue at the current rate.
The cost of the apprenticeship will spread over the lifetime of the apprenticeship and we will hold back 20% of the total cost, this will be for the end point assessment that will be paid on completion of the apprenticeship.
Levied employers will be able use their digital account to commit to apprenticeship starts from the beginning of May and use their levy funds after selecting a training provider and apprenticeship programme.
Once an employer has committed to an apprenticeship funds will automatically leave the employer’s digital account on a monthly basis.
By committing to training via the digital account an employer will be entering into a contractual agreement with the training provider.
Information tools within the digital account will help employers forecast funds that are likely to accumulate in their account over time. This will help employers to manage their cash flow and digital funds.
For non-levied paying employers we will continue to use the existing method of funding directly to training providers. So these employers will not have to buy training, or set up a digital account in May 2017.
Non-levied employers will move onto the digital system at a later date.
Non-levied employers buying training from May 2017
Continue to make payments direct to providers
Move onto the digital system at a later date

10. What can funds be used for?
Digital funds and government funding can be used for:
Digital funds and government funding can not be used for
apprenticeship training and assessment
against an approved framework or standard
with an approved training provider and assessment organisation
up to the funding band maximum for that apprenticeship
wages
travel and subsistence costs
managerial costs
traineeships
work placement programmes
the costs of setting up an apprenticeship programme

11. The apprenticeship service is a group of online tools created to support you when developing and managing your apprenticeship programmes.
It has been designed to enable you to have greater control of your programme and apprenticeship funding through the levy.
The core service can be accessed at the different stages of your apprenticeship journey – from step 1 planning your programme through to advertising and recruiting an apprentice in step 5.
Employers who don’t pay the levy will not need to use the apprenticeship service to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment until at least When we ask them to start using the apprenticeship service to pay for apprenticeship training, we will help them to prepare.
However, non levy payers can still benefit from features of the of the service through the Find Apprenticeship Training and Recruit an Apprentice tools that are live and available now.
Please note, apprenticeship service is the new name of the service which employers will use to plan, manage and pay for their apprenticeships. The service was formerly known as the 'digital apprenticeship service' or 'DAS' during its development.

12. Plan your apprenticeship programme1
Plan your apprenticeship programme
Estimate how much levy funding you will have to spend on apprenticeships

14. On the next page you will be presented with a monthly funding breakdown.
The breakdown includes those levy credits coming into the account, including the government top up, the estimated monthly cost of the training and the value of any co-investment payments. The estimated monthly account balance is also displayed.
In this example, there is not enough levy credit to pay for all the training. The government will share the cost with you when the account balance reaches zero.
This means the government will pay 90% of the training costs that are not covered by the levy credit and you will contribute the rest.
On screen, you can see that you have a monthly levy credit of £3,208. The first credit enters the account in May and the account balance starts to increase each month.
The 10 apprentices start their training in August at a cost of £6,000 per month. For the first three months, you have enough funding in your account to cover the full cost.
In November, co-investment will start with the government funding 90% of the remaining balance and you 10%.
This means that as of December you are contributing an extra £279 per month with the government paying an additional £2,513.
You can continue to view further months and extend the funding breakdown, right up until the completion payment is due – in this example that would be July 2020.

15. Funding rules - the funding bands
Number
Band limit 1
£1,500 2
£2,000 3
£2,500 4
£3,000 5
£3,500 6
£4,000 7
£5,000 8
£6,000 9
£9,000 10
£12,000 11
£15,000 12
£18,000 13
£21,000 14
£24,000 15
£27,000
Every apprenticeship will be placed in a funding band.
The upper limit of each funding band will cap the maximum:
amount of digital funds an employer who pays the levy can use towards an individual apprenticeship.
that government will ‘co-invest’ towards, where an employer does not pay the levy or has insufficient digital funds
Employers will be able to negotiate the best price for the training they require
Funding bands:
Online calculator:

16. Expiry of Digital Funds
Apprenticeships - Funding rules
Cross-border funding
Applying a single test for funding through the English system: based on whether the apprentice’s main place of employment is England.
‘Workplace’ is where the apprentice is expected to spend the majority of their time during their apprenticeship.
Expiry of Digital Funds
Extended to 24 Months – helping employers to prepare for the new system and adapt training programmes
Prior qualifications
Now and in the future, you can train any individual to undertake an apprenticeship at a higher level than a qualification they already hold.
From May 2017, an individual can be funded to undertake an apprenticeship at the same or lower level to acquire substantive new skills
Transferring funding
During 2018 we will introduce means for employers to transfer up to 10% of the levy funds to another employer, or to an ATA.
Transfer working group to design this system so that it meets their needs

17. Apprenticeships 2017 - additional support
16-18 year olds
Government will pay £1,000 to employers, and a further £1,000 to training providers if they train a year old apprentice plus extra government funding to provide a transitional 20% uplift for providers training year olds on a framework (outside of levy a/c).
Smaller sized employers
Employers with fewer than 50 employees will have 100% of the training and assessment costs covered when training a year old (or year old formerly in care or has a Local Authority Education, Health and Care plan
English and Maths training
To meet minimum standards of English and maths we will pay training providers £471 for each of these qualifications (Level 1 and 2)
(outside of levy a/c)
Disadvantaged young people
Government will pay £1,000 to employers, and a further £1,000 to training providers if they train year olds leaving care or who have a Local Authority Education and Healthcare plan.
Additional support in areas of disadvantage (outside of levy a/c)
Additional learning support
We will pay training providers up to £150 a month to support these learners, plus additional costs based on evidenced need (outside of levy a/c)

18. Chose apprenticeship training2
Chose apprenticeship training
Find the right type of apprenticeship training for your business and a training provider nearby

19. Find apps training
Find apprenticeship training is an easy to use online tool that allows employers to find the right type of apprenticeship training and training providers for their business.
Once on the website on GOV.UK employers can begin the search by clicking start.

20. .

21. Apprenticeship training
Prior qualifications
Now and in the future, you can train any individual to undertake an apprenticeship at a higher level than a qualification they already hold.
From May 2017, an individual can be funded to undertake an apprenticeship at the same or lower level to acquire substantive new skills
Instructions provided on how to meet AM or JAZE member – i.e. where they are, get them to wave hands

22. Manage apprenticeship funding Levy paying employers3
Manage apprenticeship funding Levy paying employers
Register securely to set up an employer account and view your available funding
Section 3, Manage apprenticeship funding, and 4, set up an apprenticeship contract, are for levy payers only. The aim is Non levy payers will be able to use the digital apprenticeship service to pay for training and assessment for apprenticeships by 2020.

23. 3 Manage apprenticeship funding
Register:
Guidance:
Support:
call

24. To set up your account you will need some key information.
As the levy is linked to your HMRC payroll declarations you will need your organisations Government Gateway login details.
It is likely that your payroll team have access to this as it is used when submitting PAYE information to HMRC.
The Gateway credentials are used to identify those PAYE schemes that are connected and relate to the organisation.

25. Agreements will be needed……
Employer
Employer Agreement
Contract for services
To direct funding to the selected training provider three agreements will need to be in place.
Before May 2017 we will ask you to accept an Employer agreement for each of your organisations that will spend your funds.
The agreement sets out the terms on which the Skills Funding Agency can pay funds from your account directly to your chosen training provider(s) for the training and assessment of apprentices.
As you negotiate and agree the price you are willing to pay for the apprenticeship directly with the training provider you will need to set up a contract for service with that provider. Refer: funding rules for more information on the contract for service
a provider agreement is needed between the Skills Funding Agency and the training provider to allow the Agency to make the payments.
SFA
Provider
Provider Agreement

26. Red and White Holdings PLC
Once your account has been created you will be taken to the account landing page. This is also the page you will come to every time that you sign into your account.
From here you have the option to:
Add, remove or edit team members, ie users, PAYE schemes and organisations.
View your finances and forecast funds
Update the status of your apprentices or recruit new ones
Some of these functions shown may not be available when you first register and will become available at a later date.

27. From the home screen the apprentices section can be accessed.
All the apprentice information is clearly displayed in one place.
Employers can
Add a new apprentice
Review and approve cohorts
And view individuals and their details apprenticeship details
Within the ‘view apprentices on programme’ link it is possible to transfer, pause or stop the apprenticeship as well as being able to see information on the individual’s apprenticeship journey; their provider, standard being studied, start dates, and estimated completion dates.
I will now show you how to add a new cohort of apprentices to the system.

28. Advertise your vacancy and recruit an apprentice5
Advertise your vacancy and recruit an apprentice

29. Recruit an apprentice and Find an apprenticeship
Through Recruit an apprentice, training providers post vacancies for apprenticeships and traineeships on behalf of employers.

30. Key milestones Please note that all dates are provisional and are subject to change.
2017
March
levy account registration open
National Apprenticeship Week (6 to 10 March)
Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) published
April
Levy collected
May
Service live. New funding arrangements
Make commitments (apprenticeship starts)
To 2020
All employers to use the service

31. Information and support
Apprenticeship Reforms information: employers Overall apprenticeships information search for ‘apprenticeships’ or ‘traineeships’ on GOV.UK Keep in touch: Set up web alerts from GOV.UK Skills Funding Agency Digital Blog Search for “apprenticeship changes” on “Gov.UK” Levy account support: Phone:
For more information search for ‘apprenticeships’ or ‘traineeships’ on GOV.UK
Read the Skills Funding Agency Digital Blog
Sign up for web alerts from GOV.UK on from the sections that you read most. You will then automatically be sent an when content is added of changed.
Contact our business support centre on:
By phone: By
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Registration
We are phasing registration so that we can continue testing and improving the service, with minimum disruption to users, before inviting all levy-paying employers to register.
The small sample is a cross-section of employers that we have been working with to build the service as well as some others that are new to it.
All employers will be able to register by the end of February. The URL will be made available on GOV.UK
Employers can register at their convenience once registration is open and there is no deadline.
Once registration is open, we encourage employers to register sooner rather than later so that they can get their account set up and start planning their apprenticeship programme. However, there is no closing date for registration.
PAYE
Only an organisations Government Gateway login details can be used to create an account and add PAYE schemes. Individual or Agent credentials do not contain the access level required and will not work. Contact HMRC if you need a new organisation Government Gateway login.
Some employers have reported that their Payroll department do not want to share PAYE and companies house information with their apprenticeship manager/person setting up the account. In such instances it maybe that your payroll team needs to initially create the account and add further users once the account is set up.
Additional PAYE schemes can be added at a later date – but the organisations Gateway login details will be needed to add these.
A PAYE scheme can not be split across multiple accounts
The PAYE scheme that the apprentices is paid through needs to be linked to the account
You cannot add PAYE schemes or organisations that are not part of your organisation or connected as defined by HMRC
Organisations
Unlike PAYE schemes a named organisation can be linked to more than one account.
Only add legally recognised organisations that will make agreements with providers
One £15k levy allowance is shared across all PAYE schemes. Organisations with more than one DAS account will need to consider the effect of sharing on funds available in their accounts
Users
The account owner can invite in other users at a later date - for example, staff from HR or finance departments and we will use the GOV.UK notify service to send out invitations.
There is no limit on the number of users that can be added to the account
The information in their account will be commercially sensitive and user-accounts should be person specific and log in details should be confidential.
All users can view levy information and the account balance
HMRC GUIDANCE
For HMRC guidance around PAYE and connected companies search for Pay Apprenticeship Levy on GOV.UK
Or call their helpline
SFA agreement
When you first want to pay for apprenticeship training through the apprenticeship service, you will be asked to accept an agreement for each of your organisations that will spend funds from your account.
The agreement sets out the terms on which the SFA can pay funds from your account directly to your chosen training provider(s) for the training and assessment of apprentices.
We are currently finalising the agreement. Once it is finalised, there will be a link to the agreement on GOV.UK and on the service.
Updates
We will be introducing new features to the service over the coming weeks and months. In March you will be able to find the latest list of approved training providers so that you can agree with them to deliver apprenticeships using your levy contributions from May All the functionality you will need to manage your apprenticeships will be available by May.