Introduction

The apprenticeship levy was introduced in Finance Act 2016 and applies as from 6 April 2017. The rate of levy is 0.5 % of paybill, offset by a £15,000 ‘levy allowance’. This means that, in effect, it applies only to employers who have an annual paybill of £3 million or more a year.

The Apprenticeship Levy was in turn renamed as the Growth and Skills Levy, in April 2025. The changes introduced under the Growth and Skills Levy relate, primarily,.to the types of training courses which may be funded by the Levy, with the employer payments required towards the Levy remaining unchanged.

The Growth and Skills Levy (formerly known as the apprenticeship levy) payment regime is run by the by the Department for Education. However the employer payments side of the Levy is administered by HMRC as part of the RTI system, alongside PAYE tax and NIC.

The money raised by the levy goes into a special training fund which is topped up by government with the aim that it can be accessed by