The Education and Skills funding Agency (ESFA) has opened an
Expressions of Interest (EOI) for small and medium sized
employers and supporting training providers that currently have a
non-levy contract to help the ESFA in its initial phase, to test
the system functionality of the apprenticeship service for
employers who do not pay the Levy.
Small and medium sized employers that do not pay the
Apprenticeship Levy, as well as their supporting training
providers, can now express their interestto
help ESFA shape its services so it meets future needs for all
employers. To apply to test the service:
-
the employer must have an apprenticeship vacancy that will
result in an apprentice starting in August, September or
October 2019, for the application to be accepted
-
as this is a test phase, the training provider should already
have a contract with ESFA for supporting employers that do
not pay the Apprenticeship Levy, and have money left in their
non-levy funding allocation
This follows news that, in
future, small and medium sized employers will be able to access
the full benefits of the apprenticeship
service, even if they don’t pay the Apprenticeship Levy.
The Apprenticeship Levy is paid by employers with an annual pay
bill of more than £3 million and is used to help fund
apprenticeships and skills development across the country.
From August, a small number of employers who do not pay the levy
and their associated providers will be able to set up accounts on
the apprenticeship service through our first test phase.
The test phase will take place between August and December 2019.
The purpose of this test phase is to help make sure the service
meets employer and provider needs, ahead of it being opened up to
a wider audience.
Providers not involved in the initial test phase will not be
disadvantaged when we further roll out the service and no new
funding is available through this functional test.
During this development phase, we will be working with employers
and supporting providers to test a modest volume of
apprenticeship starts.
Before employers and providers apply, they should consider:
- the training provider should already have a contract with
ESFA and have money left in their allocation for non-levy funding
- the employer and provider must have an established
relationship before submitting to the EOI process
- the employer must have an apprenticeship vacancy that will
result in a start for the period between August and October 2019
for the application to be accepted
- the applicants who take part in the development will be
allocated on a first come, first served basis; the ESFA will not
be able to guarantee an apprenticeship start until the selection
has been made and applicants have been notified
When applying, employers and providers must:
- submit a joint application and agree whether it will be the
employer or the provider who will make the application - and have
permission to do so on the other party’s behalf
- ensure the provider referenced in the application is on the
ESFA Register of
Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) at the point
of submission
- ensure the employer referenced in the application submission
has an annual pay bill of under £3 million per annum
The EOI will have two application windows. The first will open on
13 June 2019 and close 05 July 2019, after which the ESFA will
select employers and supporting providers who have starts in
August, September or October.
The second window to submit an EOI for ESFA to select employers
and supporting providers, who have starts in November and
December 2019, will open later in the summer.
We have published further
information on GOV.UK.
