Support and advice for businesses

Transfer of Apprenticeship Levy Funds

We are pleased to be able to support local businesses to grow and prosper using our Apprenticeship Levy funds. As a large levy-paying employer, Kingston Council can transfer 25% of its levy funds to agreed businesses that do not pay the levy to offset the cost of apprenticeships. 

We are making the maximum 25% of our levy funds available through the ‘pledge’ system for businesses based in the Borough of Kingston upon Thames to access. This means that businesses will be able to access funding to pay for the training and assessment of apprentices within their business.

Apprenticeships combine practical on-the-job skills training with sustained off-the-job learning, available from entry-level to master's degree equivalent. Apprenticeships can be used to create new employment or to upskill existing employees, and apprentices can be of any age.

Most organisations who employ an apprentice aged 19+ are asked to contribute 5% of the cost of training and the government pays the remaining 95%. The employer’s cost can therefore be offset completely through being the recipient of levy gifting.

As an example of apprenticeship training costs:

• Level 2 Roofer, over 2 years costs £11,000
• Level 3 Low Carbon Heating Technician, over 3 years costs £22,000
• Level 4 Lead Practitioner in Adult Care, over 2 years costs £7000
• Level 6 Marketing Manager, over 2 years costs £9000

As a non-levy paying business most businesses would pay 5% of this fee. With levy transfer, the cost of this training is £0 to your business. The employer would still need to pay the employee wage and associated costs.

Organisations with under 50 employees who employ 16-18 year olds (or 19-25 year olds with an EHCP) can already access 100% government funding towards the apprenticeship training costs.  

Funding available:

All apprenticeship training and assessment costs funded through levy transfer

An additional £1000 from the government if they are taking on an apprentice who is either:

• aged 16 to 18 years old, or
• aged 19 to 25 years old and has an education, health and care (EHC) plan or has been in the care of their local authority

To ensure that our funding is used to support our local businesses and economy, we have set out some criteria for the businesses we will support with a levy transfer, these are as follows:

• the business must be registered and operating in the borough of Kingston upon Thames
• the apprentice that will be funded by the transfer must be based within the borough (if the employer has multiple sites),
• the employer must be a small to medium sized enterprise (less than 250 employees),
• registered with HMRC with a wage bill under £3 million per year (non levy payer) or where the receiving employer is already an apprenticeship levy payer, they must have already spent their levy for the year before applying to Kingston's fund 
• must not be subject to winding up or any other order,
• the employer should pay the apprentice the National Minimum Wage as a minimum and where possible to consider paying the London Living Wage (Not the lower apprentice rate). See current rates.
• priority will be given to the following sectors (but this does not mean that others are excluded):
  • health and social care
  • hospitality and retail
  • digital and tech
  • construction
  • education
• the use of a local training provider is preferred unless the required training is not offered by a local provider,
• applications are welcomed from the voluntary sector,
• businesses will be encouraged to consider their recruitment to support groups with protected characteristics who may be under-represented in their sector and apprenticeships as a whole.

You can apply for funding through our ‘pledge’ via the Government Apprenticeship Service – you must have an Apprenticeship Service Account.

When completing the online application form, please give us as much information as possible in Section 3 – ‘About Your Apprenticeship’ to help us understand how you meet the criteria. We may also contact you for more information as part of our due diligence checks.

For support to access the funding available, talk to your training provider, or contact us and we will support you with the process. For more information about Apprenticeships see How to take on an apprentice.

Local apprenticeship training providers

Achieving for Children Way2Work Apprenticeships