Whether you already employ apprentices or not, the new apprenticeship levy is huge opportunity to upskill your business. 

If your annual wage bill is over £3 million, there's no two ways about it – you have to pay the apprenticeship levy. And it's up to you to make the most of it.

When the levy was first announced last year, some large businesses took the news badly. They saw the levy as another form of corporation tax, and didn't see the potential apprentices could bring to their business. Now a few months have passed, attitudes have changed. Employers are now embracing the levy as a huge opportunity to invest in their staff, upskill their workforce and build a training strategy to support their future growth.

Your apprenticeship levy is already starting to rack up in your DAS account, so we've put together 5 steps your business must follow to make sure you maximise your levy.

1. Calculate your payment

To calculate how much you contribute towards the levy, multiply your annual wage bill by 0.5, then minus £15,000.

For example:

Wage bill = £5 million

5,000,000 x 0.5 = 25,000

25,000 – 15,000 =£10,000 annual levy payment.

Now you know how much you'll have to spend on apprenticeship training, you can start planning for the future.

2. Build a training strategy

Take a look at your existing workforce and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of your team. Do you have any skills gaps? Do you need to recruit any specialist employees? What is your staffing budget? By identifying the areas where training is most needed, you can build an apprenticeship strategy to fill in the gaps.

There are a huge range of apprenticeships available, ideal for building a talented team to support your future growth.

3. Plan your apprenticeship delivery

You can choose to deliver your apprenticeship training in-house or via a training provider. The training provider will work closely with you and your apprentices throughout their qualification. They'll provide one-on-one training sessions to help your staff gain the skills they need before they take their end-point assessment (EPA) to pass their course. Managing the process in-house is a bit more complicated, but you can find out more about it here.

4. Invest in the right tools

The tools needed to support apprenticeship delivery will vary from business to business, but there are some rules everyone can follow. Investing in an online portfolio is the best way to track, support and manage your new apprentices. It'll save you time and money too. 

5. Register your DAS account

It's a little later than planned but the Apprenticeship Service is finally up and running! By registering for an account, you'll have access to your levy payments and be able to search, manage and pay for apprenticeships using your levy. 

The Apprenticeship Service is new to everyone, so it can be a little confusing. Download our Apprenticeship Service resource for a step-by-step guide of the whole process.