The way that apprenticeships are delivered and funded is changing. The government has set a target of creating three million apprenticeships by 2020 and is introducing the apprenticeship levy in April this year to help fund them.

From April 6th 2017, employers with a pay bill of more than £3 million per annum will pay 0.5% of their pay bill into the apprenticeship levy. This is paid through the usual monthly PAYE payment to HMRC.

The levy is seen as a way for large businesses to make an investment in apprenticeships and make it affordable for smaller businesses to take one on.

Buckinghamshire Business First’s apprenticeship levy overview

Buckinghamshire Business First is compiling a comprehensive overview of what the apprenticeship levy means for businesses large and small. There is a fair bit of detail behind the levy, so we hope our guide will help you cut through the jargon and understand the ins and outs of the new way of doing apprenticeships.

You will receive a copy of this overview by email in the near future.

Want to know more about apprenticeships?

Buckinghamshire Business First is working with local partners to ensure that all local businesses know more about apprenticeship opportunities in the county. If you would like to know more then express your interest by filling out this form and a member of our team will be in touch.

Opps in Bucks & WANNABE bring employers and young people together

Opps in Bucks supports schools, colleges and businesses to work together to prepare young people for career choices and help them to develop skills for the workplace.

Young people looking for a work opportunity can search a database of businesses that have signed up to indicate they are offering an apprenticeship or work placement. This is a great way for both businesses and young people to find exactly what they are looking for.

WANNABE is a scheme run by Opps in Bucks that helps young people find an apprenticeship, work placement or full and part time work. Companies can sign up here to post their work opportunity to eager young people looking for a helping hand in their fledgling careers.

Opps in Bucks success stories

Opps in Bucks and WANNABE have helped to create meaningful engagement between schools and young people in order to build a talent pipeline. This has resulted in many success stories, including:

• Silverson’s Engineering Skills Weeks at their Apprentice Training Centre, which brought together 17 pupils from various schools to work with Silverson’s existing apprentices to build a working model of Leonardo Da Vinci's catapult.
• Caremark offering an innovative work experience programme and finding some new recruits. Caremark worked together with the Bucks Skills Hub - which runs Opps in Bucks and WANNABE - to devise an inspirational work experience opportunity for four students. As a result of the programme, two of the students will be working for Caremark on a part-time basis going forward, and Caremark are looking forward to running the initiative again in 2017.

Do you have a project that you could involve young people in?

Discover future work force talent for your business. Do you have a project or role that could benefit from involving young people and help them to gain valuable experience at the same time? Then post a work experience opportunity on WANNABEbucks.org today.

National Apprenticeship Week 2017

From March 6th-10th, National Apprenticeship Week 2017 puts the benefits of apprenticeships centre stage. Both employers and young people will be able to learn more about this great option for both parties.

Read more about apprenticeships elsewhere on the Buckinghamshire Business First website >