Apprenticeships up

Author: Dawn Southgate

Apprenticeships in England have increased in number for the first time since the levy was introduced in April 2017. Between August 2018 and January 2019 there was a 10% rise compared with the same period in the previous year. The Government expects the levy to produce three million apprenticeships by 2020. This week the levy rules will change to allow an increase in the proportion of levy contributions that those paying it can share with smaller companies (from 10% to 25%). However, apprenticeship spending has moved to higher education and MBA-style programmes (see last week’s Cutting Edge). The Federation of Small Businesses is concerned that apprenticeship starts are “still worryingly low”.   

Financial Times, 29 March 2019, p4

[First published in Cutting Edge, 3 April 2019.]