Sunderland Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Scheme

Introduction

The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in 2017 to help create a skilled UK workforce and put employers at the centre of the training system.

Organisations which pay the Apprenticeship Levy, including Sunderland City Council, can transfer a proportion of any unspent levy to other employers to fund the training and assessment costs of a new apprenticeship start. This can be either:

A new recruited apprentice to your business.
An existing member of staff being upskilled.

Strategic aims and assessment criteria

Our City Plan is a blueprint for the future of Sunderland - a guide to provide the Council, our partners and communities with the vision to achieve their full potential.

The council welcomes applications from businesses located in the Sunderland City Council local authority area to support Level 3 Apprenticeships or above to enable successful implementation of the City Plan.

Before you start

Ensure that your business is eligible to apply for additional funds from the council under the transfer scheme. Organisations must either be non-levy payers or have fully committed their own levy funds.
Ensure that you have sufficient staffing budget to cover the costs of employing an apprenticeship position, as the transferred funds can only be used for training/qualification costs.
Know the exact type of apprentice/apprenticeship training and assessment cost, as transferred funds can only be used to pay for the training and assessment costs of approved apprenticeship standards
Know the apprenticeship training provider.
Set up an account with the Apprenticeship Service and have a signed agreement with the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Please Note:

Transfers can be used for an apprenticeship changing employer, an agreement must be in place with the new employer to continue their apprenticeship and enable the transfer of levy funds.
Staff with existing qualifications are also eligible to receive apprenticeship training in a different subject area. Your selected training provider will be able to offer you further advice.
Businesses whose applications are successful will be encouraged to support the council's work to raise positive awareness of the levy transfer scheme and of wider skills development across the city.
Ensure you leave enough time to make the levy transfer application and recruit the apprentice before the start date of the apprenticeship training course is selected.

Steps to follow

1. Submit an Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Request Form.

Complete the form. You will need the following information in order to complete this form:

Employer account number from DAS.
Business levy status.
Total amount of levy funding required.
Apprenticeship standard and level
Training provider name and contact details.
Agreed course costs with the training provider.
Course start and end dates.

2. Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Board will review the application

Council will firstly review the apprenticeship levy transfer request to confirm that there are sufficient transfer levy funds available.

If they are, the request will be taken to a monthly governance board, which has representatives from Council, Maintained Schools, SCAS and TfC who will consider each request on a case-by-case basis against priority sectors. Council will inform you of the outcome and if applicable confirm next steps.