Great Britain: the government unveils details of the new apprenticeship levy

The apprenticeship levy was introduced in the 2015 Budget. In a bid to reach its goal of 3 million apprentices, the government had announced it would be putting an apprenticeship levy in place in 2017. A government document published on 21 April 2016 details how the levy, which comes into force in April 2017, will work. All employers operating in the UK, with a pay bill over £3 million (€3.8 million) each year, will have to make an investment in apprenticeships. The levy will be charged at a rate of 0.5% of companies’ annual pay bills. The levy is expected to bring the government funds of some £3 billion (€3.8 billion) for the period 2019/2020 that will be solely directed at funding apprenticeships.