Large businesses with a pay bill of over £3m have been paying the Apprenticeship Levy since 2017. Some departments may have seen real benefits from investing in apprenticeships and have lots of positive success stories. But it isn’t always easy to communicate those benefits to senior leaders or to departments that aren’t using apprenticeships. 

 

A great way to raise the profile of apprenticeships and ensure you are getting value for money is to measure your Return on Investment or ROI. 

The Apprentice Minimum Wage is set to rise on 1st of April 2022, from £4.30 to £4.81 per hour. At Fareport, we believe that employers should look beyond this if they want to recruit and retain the best apprentices. 

Management apprenticeships get a hard time in the FE and HR press. Journalists reel at the uptake in apprenticeships for “managers” and older employees, rather than young and newly recruited employees. Many people don’t realise that apprenticeships have been created for all levels, not just the traditional young apprentices as it was in the past. We believe strongly that there is a place for both types of apprenticeships. 

4 strategies to get value from your Apprenticeship Levy in a Retail environment 

Since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, apprenticeships are being discussed in the Board Room as well as in the Training Room. Whether you have been delivering apprenticeships for years or are new to apprenticeship training, they provide an opportunity to develop a long term, business-led apprenticeship strategy. 

As a line manager your role is crucial to the success of the apprenticeship. Without line manager support most apprentices will not fully benefit from doing an apprenticeship and in some cases will struggle to complete their programme. 

 

At Fareport Training we realise that this can be daunting for many busy managers, with almost 1 in 2 managers saying they do not feel confident in supporting their apprentices. We are here to help you and ensure that your apprentice gets the maximum benefit from their apprenticeship programme. 

 

We wrote a piece back in April 2017 with information on the new Apprenticeship standards; nearly a year on, we take another look at how the new standards are developing and how they are being received by industries. 

 

If you work within a levy paying employer, you have no doubt by now heard about the new apprenticeship funding and may be wondering how and if your business will ever get started. 

From May Fareport will be launching many new apprenticeship standards with our employers. Find out more about how a ‘standard’ differs to an old apprenticeship ‘framework’.