It is now possible for organisations to register for their own apprenticeship service – as the Digital Apprenticeship Service account has recently been renamed.

Administered by the Department for Education and the Skills Funding Agency, the apprenticeship service is an online digital system (similar to online banking) into which Levy funds and any Government top-ups will eventually be paid. The online service will then allow employers to financially manage their apprenticeship programme and help them to estimate their financial spend and recruit apprentices through training providers.

The only organisations that will be need to sign up for an apprenticeship service will be:

• those with an annual paybill of more than £3m
• those that believe they may end up with a paybill of more than £3m for Tax Year 2017-18
• those that are part of a group of connected employers whose total annual paybill is more than £3m

To register, levy-paying employers should ensure that they have:

• their Government Gateway login details for PAYE schemes they want to include
• the details for each organisation that will be making an agreement with a training provider for apprenticeship training, including Companies House or charity number

Apprenticeship Levy payments will be collected by HMRC via PAYE from April, meaning that organisations can expect to see funds in their apprenticeship service to be spent on apprenticeship training from May 2017.

For more information on the Apprenticeship Levy and how it will affect your organisation, see our Charity Tax Map page here.