Apprentices: Taxation
(asked on 12th February 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the value was of apprenticeship levy funds expiring from employers’ accounts in each month from May 2019 until January 2020; what proportion of that funding will be returned to the (a) Education and Skills Funding Agency's apprenticeship budget and (b) HM Treasury.
The value of apprenticeship levy funds that expired from employers’ accounts in each month from May 2019 to January 2020 is set out in the table below:
Month | Value of expired apprenticeship levy funds |
May 2019 | £11,000,000 |
June 2019 | £26,000,000 |
July 2019 | £44,000,000 |
August 2019 | £52,000,000 |
September 2019 |
|
October 2019 | £114,000,000 |
November 2019 | £72,000,000 |
December 2019 | £83,000,000 |
January 2020 | £90,000,000 |
Total Expired | £492,000,000 |
Notes:
- There was no expiry in September 2019 as this was cancelled due to an issue affecting apprenticeship payments. Cancelling expiry ensured employers and providers were not unfairly impacted as a result of this issue. All September 2019 expiry was therefore rolled forward into the process for October 2019.
- Figures have been rounded to the nearest million.
- Information is available at the end of each calendar month.
The funds in employers’ accounts reflect the ‘English percentage’ of an employer’s levy contribution and include a 10% top-up from government. Employers’ levy funds are available for them to use for 24 months before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis. We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds in their accounts, though they are able to do so. Funds that expire are no longer available for the employer to spend on apprenticeship training.
The funds available to levy-paying employers through their apprenticeship service accounts are not the same as the Department for Education’s annual apprenticeship budget. The expiry of these levy funds does not, therefore, result in additional funds becoming available to the department or to HM Treasury.
The department’s ring-fenced apprenticeship budget was set in advance by HM Treasury for the current Spending Review period and is independent of the funds in levy payers’ accounts. In 2019-20, over £2.5 billion is available for investment in apprenticeships in England, which is double what was spent in 2010.
Our annual apprenticeship budget supports new apprenticeship starts both in levy-paying employers and non-levy paying employers as well as existing apprenticeships learners. Details of actual spend against the apprenticeships budget are published in the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s annual report and accounts.