It ain’t heavy, it’s the levy

Took my Chevvy to the levy, but the levy was dry

Use it or lose it. That seems to be the idea behind the Apprenticeship levy at the moment. Or, more accurately I suppose, use it or someone else will.

The Levy is, a tax to all intents and purposes, paid by all employers with a wage bill exceeding £3 million annually. They are required to pay 0.5% of their total annual payroll bill, into a fund which is then reinvested into providing training courses and apprenticeships across sectors.

It’s not automatic though. Just because your company has paid the levy, doesn’t mean you will magically be sent a bunch of eager apprentices, champing at the bit to get on with developing through the sector. Funding has to be applied for, and  the convoluted way that the system is structured is one of the reasons why the number of apprenticeships starts for the whole of 2022/23 fell by 3% on the previous academic year.

Government figures published earlier this month show that there were 336,510 starts reported to date for last year compared to the 347,920 for the year before.

Those who already pay the levy were, as you might expect, a bit more switched onto the process, and their starts actually rose, albeit slightly. However the companies that are too small to pay it – but who can still receive finding – actually took on 13% fewer apprentices.

Apprenticeships are a great way of attracting new talent into a business, and get a big chunk of the costs – up to £1000 – funded by the government. They’re not just of school leavers either, and those with existing skills and relevant experience can be just as valuable to the programme.

The BF Apprenticeship Pledge wants to see 15,000 apprentices across the BMF membership by 2030, and has some serious resource and help available to encourage and support its members increase their workforces in this way.

The help is there, and the funding is there, and we all know that this sector needs more younger people coming in, and that those new people need to develop the skills set that a modern distribution sector requires.

That said, if my LinkedIn feed is anything to go by, there are also a lot of people out there who are further on in the career paths, yet have found themselves suddenly surplus to the needs of the business. There are good people out there, at all stages and with a range of experiences and skills ready to bring those to the sector. If you’ve got scope for them, either as apprentices or as full-blown employees, them go and find them.