Employers are to be taxed for having Apprentices
- Emma Finamore
- Last updated 09 Jul 2015
The 2015 budget just keeps getting better

George Osborne has announced that an “apprenticeship levy” will be charged to large businesses, as part of the Conservative’s first budget as a majority government.
A levy is simply a tax or a fee, imposed by the government.
Employers have raised concerns about the plans - which aim to fund apprenticeships through the money raised by the tax - warning that the policy is a “blunt tool” in driving up standards of vocational training.
George Osborne said during his budget announcement that while many firms did a “brilliant job” in training their workforces, there are still too many large companies that “leave the training to others and take a free ride on the system”.
Ministers want the biggest apprentice employers to pay into a fund, and are planning for the fund to be directly controlled by those contributing to it.
The move will provide financial support for the promise to create 3 million apprenticeships by 2020, and shift responsibility for skills funding from the state to the private sector.
The Treasury has not provided any detail on the scale of the levy or the businesses that will be made to pay it.
News
- National Apprenticeship Week: record numbers apply for apprenticeships via UCAS
- GCSE results 2015: rise in number of students taking STEM subjects
- What young people really want in the workplace
- The barriers stopping young people accessing work experience
- Half of students are worried about finding a job & lack confidence in careers advice
- Up to 40 Apprentices Set to Join TSB
- Apprentice National Minimum Wage is Increasing
- Civil Service Apprenticeship Positions Set to Double for 2015
- People are calling for changes to Degree Apprenticeships
- A-Level results: poorer students risk missing out on free Degree Apprenticeships as their parents haven’t been told about them