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 the 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 after a report from Make UK, ‘An Unvlevy playing field for manufacturers’, which showed that 95 per cent of manufacturers want to see the Apprenticeship Levy changed with just five per cent happy with the current system.

This figure has not changed from a year ago, showing manufacturers frustrations remain strong.

A lack of appropriate apprenticeship training standards available to employers to deliver the skills their businesses need is preventing employers from training the new generation of workers, fill vital skills gaps, and growing their businesses.

Half of manufacturing levy-payers want to see the Levy re-worked, giving them flexibility to spend the levy they pay on all forms of training for all their employees, not just apprenticeships.

Less than one in five levy payers are currently managing to spend all of their levy funds, with one in five also saying they would prefer to see the Levy scrapped altogether.

Tim Thomas, Director of Labour Market and Skills Policy at Make UK, said: “The Apprenticeship Levy was rushed in development, hurried in implementation, and has been caught ever since in systematic chop and change.”

“It’s little wonder 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 per cent of manufacturers say the Apprenticeship Levy must be changed while one in five want it scrapped altogether.”

“Now is the time for Government to be both quick and bold, opening the levy pot up to other forms of technical, work-based training and re-focussing it on getting all workers the skills they need to get on and get up the skills ladder.”