The Apprenticeship Levy, Levy Transfer, and what it means for your business
If you’ve heard terms like ‘apprenticeship levy’ or ‘levy transfer’ thrown around and still aren’t sure what they actually mean for your business, you’re not alone. Here’s the straight version.
Does your business pay the levy?
If your business has a pay bill over £3 million, you pay into it.
If you’re not a levy payer (most of our clients)
Most of the employers we work with — generally 30 to 200 staff — don’t pay the levy directly. That doesn’t mean funding isn’t available:
- Apprentices under 25: often fully funded
- Apprentices over 25: typically around 95% of the cost covered
- Or funded via a levy transfer from a levy-paying employer
What the levy is now
From April 2026, the Apprenticeship Levy became the Growth & Skills Levy. If your business has a pay bill over £3 million, you pay into it, and the funds sit in your own apprenticeship service account to spend on training for your staff.
What Levy Transfer is
If you’re a levy-paying employer with unused funds, you can transfer a portion of them to another employer — including smaller, non-levy-paying businesses — to fund apprenticeship training for their staff. It’s a genuine, government-run mechanism, not a workaround.
On the transfer cap
You’ll see different figures quoted for how much of your levy pot can be transferred — some sources cite a phased cap around 10%, others cite up to 50% depending on the scheme. Rather than quote a number that might be wrong for your business, we’ll confirm the current cap and your actual eligibility on a call.
Why timing matters now
Since August 2026, levy funds expire after 12 months instead of 24. If you’re a levy payer sitting on unused funds, or hoping to receive a transfer from one, that shorter window is a real reason to have this conversation sooner rather than later — not a sales tactic, just how the funding rules now work.
What we do, and what your provider does
We guide you through which of these routes applies to your business and make the introduction to an accredited training provider. Your training provider is the one who actually administers the funding and delivers the training — we don’t process it ourselves, and we’ll never tell you otherwise.
