The UK-wide apprenticeship levy came into force on the 6th April 2017.
The online apprenticeship service, which was launched in February this year, already has many employers signed up to start using their money to invest in apprenticeships.
Once you’ve declared your levy, you will see the balance in your apprenticeship service account by the end of May 2017. Firstly you need to ensure that you’ve set up your account on the apprenticeship service website. It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes – the register to manage your apprenticeship funds page tells you everything you need (See page 2)
On the apprenticeship service website you can:
The funds available to spend on apprenticeships depend on the percentage of your pay bill that’s paid to employees who live in England. HMRC works out the English percentage for each PAYE scheme by dividing the total year-to-date pay bill of employees who live in England by the total year-to-date pay bill of all employees.
Register to manage your apprenticeship funds
Sign in or register to access money you’ve paid under the apprenticeship levy and pay for apprenticeship training.
If your organisation, including any connected companies or charities, has an annual pay bill of more than £3 million you will pay the apprenticeship levy. If you pay the levy and want to employ an apprentice you’ll need to:
- create an account
- add organisations
- link your PAYE schemes
- invite members of your team to use the service
If you’re not a levy payer, you can’t access any funds through this service.
Please use the following link to create a new account, or sign in if you have already registered.
https://manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk/
Before you start
You will need to work out how much apprenticeship levy you are due to pay, and report this to HMRC each month, starting in April 2017. The funds you have available to spend on apprenticeships in England will be added to your account.
When you set up your account you must have:
- Government Gateway login details for the PAYE schemes that you want to include in your account
- details for each organisation that will be making an agreement with a training provider for apprenticeship training, including the Companies House or charity number (if you have one)
If you don’t have Government Gateway login details, you may need to ask someone from your payroll or finance department to help you set up the account, or to set it up on your behalf.
You need the Government Gateway login details for each PAYE scheme you add to your account - if you have an agent, do not use their details.
When you enter the Government Gateway login details you will not see or access any confidential information. You only need to enter the Government Gateway login details once when you add PAYE schemes.
If you employ an apprentice, the PAYE scheme they are paid through must be attached to your account.
Once your account has been set up, you’ll be able to add other people from your organisation to access your account. You can choose different roles for them within your account.
Using your account
Once you have declared your levy for April 2017 you will see the balance in your account in May 2017.
The agreement is available to sign in your account. You will not be able to spend funds that are in your account until you have accepted your agreement.
Once you have accepted the agreement you can:
- add or amend information about apprentices and training
- authorise payment to the training provider
- view payment activity in your account and view your balance
- pause or stop a payment to your training provider
Registering multiple connected organisations
If you are registering on behalf of multiple connected companies or charities, you need to think about:
- the structure of your organisations and PAYE schemes
- how you are going to spend your funds
You should register every organisation that will make an agreement with a training provider for apprenticeship training. Use the organisation’s legal name, which will be the same as the name on the agreement with the provider. You do not need to add any of your other organisations to the account.
You will need to register every organisation that will make an agreement with a training provider for apprenticeship training.
For example, if you have multiple PAYE schemes, you could create multiple accounts or have one account for all of them.
There is no restriction on the number of connected organisations you can add, but a single PAYE scheme cannot be split across multiple accounts.
Public sector bodies cannot usually be connected in levy accounts.
