17 February 2017, 17:30

Apprenticeship Levy - how to register for the apprenticeship service

The Apprenticeship Levy is just round the corner. Are you one of the 1,200 charities that will be paying the levy? Do you know how to sign up to the ...

The Apprenticeship Levy is just round the corner. Are you one of the 1,200 charities that will be paying the levy? Do you know how to sign up to the Digital Apprenticeship Service? If not, this short blog will point you in the right direction.

With only a couple of months to go until employers - including charities - with a pay bill of over £3 million will be required to start paying the levy. To work out how much apprenticeship levy you are due to pay you should visit the gov.uk website.

Those charities that will be required to pay the levy should be registering now for the apprenticeship service. In so doing you will be able to:

• create an account;
• add organisations (if your organisation is a connected charity);
• link your PAYE schemes;
• invite members of their team to use the service.

In March you should be able to find the latest list of approved training providers so that you can agree with them to deliver apprenticeships using your levy contributions from May 2017, and the functionality you will need to manage your apprenticeships will be available by May.

What you need to be able to set up your account

To be able to set up your account you will need to have:

1. Government Gateway login details for the PAYE schemes that you want to include in your account;
2. 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 are unsure what your charity's Government Gateway login details are, someone from your payroll or finance department should be able to give it to you. The Department for Education has produced  Step-by-step guide to apprenticeship service for levy payers which you can download.

How long will it take?

We have been told that it should only take 10 minutes for employers to set up an account, but there are some things you can do in advance to speed it up. The register to manage your apprenticeship funds page will tell you everything you need to know.

Do you have any questions?

If you have any questions about what the levy is, how it might impact your charity and so on, you can get in touch with me via email - anjelica.finnegan@cfg.org.uk CFG is hosting a half day Apprenticeship Levy Conference on 27th April in London - to register for the event contact events@cfg.org.uk  If employers have any questions about their account, they can:

• email Helpdesk@manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk
• call 08000 150 600

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