Frequently Asked Questions By Employers

Designed by employers for employers, Apprenticeships are a cost effective way to deliver skills designed around business needs. Hiring apprentices helps businesses grow their own talent by developing a motivated, skilled and qualified workforce. Apprentices have made an active choice to learn on the job and to make a commitment to a specific career. As a result apprentices tend to be eager, flexible and loyal to the company that invested in them.

Apprenticeships are running across almost 200 industries and approaching 2000 job roles, from youth work to nuclear decommissioning and can be set at a broad spread of levels from Intermediate (Level 2, broadly equivalent to five good GCSE passes), Advanced (Level 3, broadly equivalent to two A Levels) and Higher Apprenticeships (Level 4-7, equivalent to a foundation or bachelor’s degree and even a master’s degree in some sectors).

There is a common misconception that Apprenticeships are solely aimed at school leavers. In fact Apprenticeships can be offered to both new and existing staff and are open to all ages, from 16-64. Different Apprenticeships have different entry requirements which can be discussed with us at Riverside as your selected training provider.

An Apprenticeship is essentially a partnership between you the employer, us the training organisation and the apprentice. We at Riverside will work closely with the apprentice to support the delivery of the training programme, carrying out the assessments and delivering the additional skills and knowledge training required to complete the programme.

Most of the training is ‘on-the-job’ – working with a company mentor to learn the job-specific skills in the workplace. But you will also need to allocate set time during the apprentice’s working week (20% of the weekly hours) for ‘off the job’ training – learning which is undertaken outside of the normal day-to-day working environment and leads towards the achievement of an apprenticeship. This time is to allow the apprentice to complete online courses, shadow colleagues, receive internal training, conduct research ie generally increasing their knowledge and skills. This all needs to be evidenced in order for it to lead towards achieving the final qualification.

The duration of an Apprenticeship depends on the qualification being followed and the ability of the individual apprentice. An Apprenticeship can take between one and four years depending on the level and type. As a guide an Intermediate Level Apprenticeship usually takes around 12 months and an Advanced Level Apprenticeship around 24 months.

All apprentices must be employed, have a contract of employment just like other employees. Ideally, a salary should be offered which reflects the job role and the skills and experience of the candidate, whilst recognising the training opportunity being offered. It can also be helpful to consider how the apprentice’s pay will increase over time.

A minimum wage of £5.28 per hour (including off the job training time) must be paid to all apprentices who are under 19 or in the first year of their Apprenticeship. Individuals not falling into these categories should be paid the National Minimum Wage rate for their age band. Employment must be for at least 30 hours per week, except in the minority of circumstances where the learner cannot complete the full 30 hours. Employment is a fundamental part of an Apprenticeship. An apprentice must be employed in a suitable job role.

In the UK, employers are responsible for paying their apprentices’ salaries but training costs can be paid for via The Apprenticeship Levy. The Levy was introduced to employers in April 2017 to help fund Apprenticeships and to give employers more say in the level and type of provision available. Many people find the whole subject of the Levy to be confusing but we’ll try and distil it as simply as possible.

• The levy is paid by large businesses with a pay bill of over £3 million. The levy is set at 0.5% of their total annual pay bill. This amounts to around 2% of UK employers.
• Smaller employers pay just 5% of the cost of their apprenticeship training and the Government pays the rest
• All levy paying employers can access their funds through a digital account set up with the Government, the DAS. The funds in their accounts are available to spend on apprenticeship training in the UK.
• The levy is there to fund apprenticeship training for all employees – not just new hires.
• The levy can only be spent on Apprenticeship training and assessment with an approved training provider. It cannot be spent on anything else such as wages, travel & subsidiary costs.
• Employers have 24 months to use their funds once they enter their apprenticeship service account, after this point, their funds will expire.
• Any unused levy funds will be used to enable existing apprentices to complete their training and to pay for apprenticeship training for smaller businesses.
• Levy funds can be transferred from a company to a smaller company in their supply chain, say, provided that there is full agreement on how the funds will be allocated across an Apprenticeship programme.
• While the Apprenticeship Levy is a UK-wide initiative, management of apprenticeship training is a devolved policy so each nation determines how funding can be allocated.

Ok you now appreciate the key benefits of introducing an apprenticeship scheme within your company – helping to fill specific skill gaps and creating a more motivated and better qualified workforce. And you’ve got your funds, you’ve opened an online account and you’re ready to go.

Well trust us, the smartest thing you should now do is to pick the right training provider to work with you to develop a properly-considered programme designed to meet your specific business needs. The Government publishes a list of approved providers and there are hundreds of names on it.

You may want a company that specialises in your sector or which offers the local or national capability you’re particularly looking for. We at Riverside Training have 25 years experience with a proven track record of working with around 500 clients and helping more than 5000 learners to achieve their apprenticeship qualifications, re-injecting motivation, new skills and commitment back into their parent companies.

We’d like to take you across this link to explain in more detail why we think you should choose Riverside Training as your preferred training provider. We are sure that you will be impressed by our dynamic, innovative approach. And we’d love to talk through all the possibilities with you to help make your company better qualified to meet the challenges we face today.