Apprentices: Taxation

(asked on 15th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money raised from the Apprenticeship Levy remains un-spent as at 18 October 2021.


Answered by
Alex Burghart Portrait
Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This question was answered on 25th October 2021

The apprenticeship levy is collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs from all UK employers with a pay bill above £3 million. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive a share of levy funding and it is for the devolved administrations to decide how their allocations should be used. The Department for Education’s annual apprenticeship budget for England is set by Her Majesty’s Treasury and, although closely linked, is distinct from the total levy income collected. The levy has been set at a level to fund demand for apprenticeships in employers of all sizes.

In the 2021-22 financial year, funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England is around £2.5 billion, double that spent in the 2010-11 financial year in cash terms. Details of the apprenticeship budget spend for each financial year are included in the Education & Skills Funding Agency’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Employers in England are able to access their apprenticeship levy contributions, plus a 10% government top up, via their digital apprenticeship service accounts. Employers can use these funds to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment in their business, or they can transfer them to support apprenticeships in other businesses. Employers have 24 months to use their funds once they enter their apprenticeship service account before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis.

As of 30 September 2021, the total balance of available funds in levy-paying employers’ Apprenticeship Service accounts is £4.81 billion. This represents funds that employers have contributed and are able to spend over a two-year period.

We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds available to them, but they are able to if they wish. As well as funding new apprenticeships in levy-paying employers, income from the levy funds new apprenticeships in employers that do not pay the levy, existing apprentices that started in previous years, and additional payments to employers and providers.

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