BCC comments on Apprenticeship Levy funding guidance

16th August 2016

Commenting on the funding guidance for the Apprenticeship Levy, Mike Spicer, Director of Research at the BCC, said: -Businesses will welcome the news that the government will fully-fund 16-18-year-old apprentices, and that the co-investment rate for non-levy payers will be set at 10%.

-It is disappointing however that businesses will have to wait until October, just six months before the proposed implementation date of the Levy, for details of the technical rules. Indeed, the timescale seems very compressed for a complex policy that relies on a major IT set-up. -The government's apprenticeship target is laudable, and businesses see them as a vital way of narrowing the skills gap. But the focus must be on high-quality apprenticeships rather than purely as a numbers game. We look forward to inputting our member views in this complex area going forward.