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Apprenticeship fees and funding

Contents
Information on the government funding and grants available for our finance and accountancy apprenticeship programmes.

How does apprenticeship funding work?

The government provides funding to employers who train apprentices to support the cost of apprenticeship training and assessment. This funding can be used to cover some of the costs associated with our accounting and finance apprenticeships.

The funding available to you depends on whether you pay the apprenticeship levy or not:
  • Levy paying employers: funding for apprenticeships

    All UK employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3m are charged a levy of 0.5%. The levy is paid monthly through the usual PAYE process. 

    A 10% contribution is then added to each monthly payment by the government, meaning that for each £1 an employer pays, they have access to £1.10 as a training fund. 

  • Non-levy paying employers: funding for apprenticeships

    Employers who do not pay into the apprenticeship levy can access funding via a government-employer co-investment. Non-levy paying employers make a 5% contribution and the government will pay the remaining 95% up to the funding cap. If you are a non-levy paying employer, with 50 employees or less, and the apprentice you are employing is age 16-21, the government will pay 100% of the cost of the apprenticeship. 

    • The funding cap for the Level 4 apprenticeship is £8,000.
    • The funding cap for the Level 7 apprenticeship is £21,000. 

    Non-levy paying employers can also receive extra funding depending on their apprentices or organisations circumstances. For more information, please visit the Apprenticeship funding rules (paragraphs E143 to E144).

There are rules on what can and cannot be covered by apprenticeship funding:

Eligibility for apprenticeship funding

You can access apprenticeship funding for individuals aged 16 and over. There is no upper age restriction and you can offer apprenticeships to new or existing employees. You can offer apprenticeship to graduates, non-graduates or school leavers.

Apprenticeship funding for our apprenticeships is currently only available for employees working in England. 

Your training provider will check the eligibility of your employees for funding. For more information on funding eligibility, please visit the Apprenticeship funding rules (paragraphs E18 to E22.2).

Payments

You can manage funding and provider payments via your Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) account.

Extra funding incentives

The government provides extra funding to incentivise employers to train and develop new talent. 

By training an apprentice, you can access:

  • an extra £1,000 per eligible* apprentice to support them in the workplace; and
  • National Insurance savings of 15.05% for apprentices aged 25 years old and under.

*Apprentices are eligible if they are one of the following:

  • 16 to 18 years old
  • 19 to 25 years old with an education, health and care plan
  • 19 to 25 years old and they used to be in care
Have a question?

If you need any support or have a question on ICAEW apprenticeships, please contact us.

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