Funding

This section contains information relating to:

  • Education and Skills Funding Agency Funding
  • Advanced Learner Loans
  • Workforce Development Funding

Education and Skills Funding Agency Funding

What is the Levy?

In April 2017 the way the government will fund apprenticeships in England is changing.

Some larger employers will be required to financially contribute to a new apprenticeship levy, but there will be some form of change to the funding for apprenticeship training for all employers.

The apprenticeship levy requires those businesses with a pay bill of over £3 million each year to make investments in apprenticeships. However, with the right support, you can benefit from this investment by training your current employees, as well as any new staff, putting them all through an appropriate apprenticeship and making the levy valuable for you.

This will encourage managers to have more of an input in ensuring that staff are trained and have meaningful qualifications in health and social care.  The knowledge and understanding gained from doing an apprenticeship in health and social with DH Associates will lead to improve quality and better outcomes for individuals your company supports.

Levy payers | Facts

  • First employer payroll deduction 6 April. First learners – 1st May
  • Will affect employers paying over £3 million per year in wages
  • Includes all sectors/industry
  • 5% of PAYE bill above £3 million will make up the levy bill
  • Achieved by giving everyone a £15,000 allowance (0.5% of £3 million = £15,000)
  • Funding will be kept in a Digital Account, part of the Apprenticeship Service
  • Payments taken monthly via HMRC
  • Employers will choose their own apprenticeship provider
  • An independent organisation will provide end point assessments for standards
  • DH Associates are currently working at the Framework until December 2017 and from the 1st January 2018 will change over to the Standards.
  • Employers can spend more than their levy; the government will pay for 90% of any overspend. This means that once you have used your Levy, you will pay 10% and the government will pay 90%

Non-Levy payers | Facts

  • Starts after 1 May under new rules
  • Payroll is under £3 million
  • Employer will make a 10% cash contribution after the learner has been signed up and been seen on the 7th week an invoice will be sent and you have 21days to pay.

Information, Advice & Guidance

  • Are you aware of the levy and have you planned for this?
  • Do you know about the changes and the impact this will have on your organisation?
  • We are here to help you navigate through the changes
  • We can help with your training analysis to develop and progress staff needs

For more information contact us or go to:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/education-and-skills-funding-agency

Advanced Learner Loans

An Advanced Learner Loan helps with the costs of further education courses.

Learners aged 19 and over and studying an approved learning aim at Levels 3, 4, 5 or 6 at an approved provider in England can apply for an Advanced Learner Loan.

Eligibility for the loan doesn’t depend on a learner’s income and there’s no credit checks. Interest is charged from the date the first payment is made to the learning provider.

The Advanced Learner loan, plus any interest, has to be paid back but not until the learner has finished or left their course and their income is over the repayment threshold.

Financial Advice

  • It is really important that you look at all the options before deciding how to pay for your course, as a training provider we cannot give you any financial advice and would suggest that you get independent financial advice from the money advise service at www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk

Or For more information Contact Us
 

Workforce Development Funding

The Workforce Development Fund is available to all adult social care employers in England and can go towards the costs of your employees completing adult social care qualifications. This year’s fund will close on 30 March 2018. There will be a number of changes to the 2018/19 fund that we need to tell you about.

The Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) has been withdrawn to make way for the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and there has been a move from the apprenticeship frameworks to apprenticeship standards, as implemented by the government. This means that there will be a few changes to the Workforce Development Fund for 2018/19 and these are outlined below.

  • Skills for Care will not fund all health and social care RQF qualifications so it is important to check the list of what will be funded before you commission any learning and development.
  • RQF focuses on the achievement of full qualifications, so in 2018/19 both QCF and RQF qualifications will be funded at qualification level only. This means individual units cannot be claimed and qualifications will be claimed when completed. Any learners who have already been registered for individual QCF units should complete them and you should ensure these are submitted in the current funding year to be claimed by 30 March 2018.
  • For all qualifications the evidence required to support claims will be a copy of the learner’s certificate, although for QCF qualifications this will still need to include the full unit breakdown. Unit summary sheets will not be accepted as evidence in 2018/19
  • 2018/19 will be the final year for claiming QCF qualifications. This means that if the qualification is not completed, certificated and claimed in 2018/19 it will not be funded through the Workforce Development Fund.
  • The 60 credit limit will no longer be in place in 2018/19, but will be replaced by a financial limit which allows the qualification with the highest funding value to be claimed for a learner within a single funding year.
  • Where a qualification has been changed from QCF to RQF, the new RQF version will not be funded this financial year (between now and 30 March 2018).
  • If a learner has chosen to do a RQF qualification from the current 2017/18 list but has not yet completed it, this can be claimed for in the 2018/19 funding year because the money is claimed on completion.

We are not making any changes or additions to the 2017/18 acceptable units list. Where a qualification changes from QCF to RQF but the content is unchanged, we will not fund the new RQF version in the current funding year (between now and 30 March 2018). Any learner who has been registered for a qualification from 1 January 2018 onwards will have been registered onto an RQF qualification.

For more information on what you can claim for, how to become eligible and how to claim go to:

https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Learning-development/Funding/Workforce-Development-Fund/Workforce-Development-Fund.aspx

Alternatively you can contact us