Industry calls for Apprenticeship Levy payers to be able to fund wider skills training from their Levy cash.
Britain’s manufacturers are calling for an urgent rethink to Government’s Apprenticeship Levy to make access to funding more flexible so that industry can develop the essential skills of the future. The call comes on the back of Make UK’s report An Unlevy Playing Field for Manufacturers, which reveals that 95% of manufacturers want to see the Apprenticeship Levy changed and just 5% are happy with the current system. This figure has not changed since 2018, showing that manufacturers’ frustrations remain strong.
The apprenticeship levy was rushed in development, hurried in implementation and has been caught ever since in systemic chop and change. It’s little wonder then that manufacturers overwhelmingly want to see real change, not tinkering at the edges of a skills system that is just too slow, too complex and increasingly too late to deliver the skills needed by tomorrow’s technologies. That’s why over 95% of manufacturers say the Apprenticeship Levy must be changed while one in five want it scrapped altogether.
Tim Thomas Director of Labour Market and Skills Policy, Make UK
