The Most Autumn Winter 2021/2022

| 31 Employer Incentives and Funding Explained Incentive payment for hiring a new apprentice On 4th October 2021 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced a £500m expansion of government action, to tackle unemployment and support job seekers, following the end of furlough. This included the extension of the popular incentive payment for hiring a new apprentice, until the end January 2022. Employers will be able to apply for a payment of £3,000 for apprentices with an employment start date between 1 October 2021 and 31 January 2022. The apprentice must start their training before 31 March 2022. The application window for employers to claim the incentive for these apprentices will open on 11 January and will close on 15 May 2022. Changes to reservations for apprenticeship funding from 1 November 2021 From 1 November 2021, the reservation period for employers who do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy will be reduced from six months to three months. While previously six months, it has decided that very few employers needed to reserve funds more than three months ahead. Employers can still plan ahead when recruiting apprentices. Employers can reserve funding three months before an apprentice’s expected start date and have a further two months after the planned reservation month to start their apprentice. As is the case now, if no commitment is made on the apprenticeship service by then, the reservation will expire. Any reservations made before 1 November 2021 will not be affected. Further information on how to reserve funding is available on GOV.UK . Digital Account Service: what you need to know as an employer No matter what size of business you are, if you wish to hire an apprentice, you will have to create a Digital Account Service. This is really simple and can be done by visiting this web address: www.accounts.manage- apprenticeships.service.gov.uk/ Once you have a DAS account you will be able to access the platform. One of the first things you will need to ensure you can claim any funding available to you is to enter a PAYE number. There are a couple of ways to do this: One way is to Google ‘gov. portal’ or visit: www.gov.uk/paye-for-employers/ setting-up-payroll Or, you can contact HMRC: www.gov.uk/ government/organisations/hm-revenue- customs/contact Once the PAYE number is added to the account and approved, you will be able to reserve funding. If it is a new PAYE account, you will be required to run a payroll though the system to activate it. You must then add the details of your apprentice/s and reserve your funding. Without reserving the funding, it will mean that you will not be able to receive the incentive payment. Information for Levy Paying Employers Did you know that if you are a levy paying employer, you are now able to transfer up to 25% of your levy money to another employer? > There are no hidden costs or agendas, this is totally free. All transfers will be done separate through the Digital Account Service. > It’s of no cost to you (the employer who is transferring the levy) but would be making a huge impact and investment to other employers. > You can choose an employer to receive your levy funding. > Or, you can choose what type of employer/ industry you want it to go to. > Equally, you don’t have to choose an employer, but can pledge your money. > This may be a smaller business or a business you would like to support. > The recipient employer will bid/tender for the money through their DAS > SMEs, in the majority of cases, will have 95% of their funding paid for, so for many, they would only need to bid for 5% of the funding. So whatever you can transfer will go a long way - it would make all the difference to an SME. For further information about any of the information regarding funding, incentives or levy transfer, please contact our Employer Engagement Manager, Daniel Crumblehulme on t: 01772 225743 or e: dcrumblehulme@preston.ac.uk 14