News
Launch of Apprenticeship Levy – 6th April 2017
The Government’s 2015 Spending Review and Autumn Statement announced a new Apprenticeship Levy on large firms to be introduced in April 2017 with the Apprenticeship funding model expected to be rolled out to all employers across the UK by 2019.
All employers with a pay bill of more than £3 million will pay the Levy. The Government estimate that this equates to less than 2% of UK employers
The rate for the levy is 0.5% of the employer’s pay bill in excess of £3 million. This will be collected by HMRC via the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme.
The UK Government has said they will work with the Devolved Administrations to resolve the practical issues of implementation, funding flows and the interaction of the levy with devolved skills responsibilities to ensure the levy works for employers across the UK.
The Northern Ireland Assembly has not yet agreed how any funding raised by the Apprenticeship Levy should be used or distributed within Northern Ireland. Since the Apprenticeship levy is not a hypothecated tax ring fenced for any specific purpose by law, any funding received from the Apprenticeship Levy via the Barnett formula would not necessarily be ring fenced for apprenticeships, so there is no guarantee that funds would be spent on apprenticeships or indeed training.
CITB NI has been engaging with Government and employers on how the existing CITB NI construction levy arrangements will be affected and whether any changes will be required. There have been no agreements to date, so Northern Ireland construction employers above the £80k paybill threshold will be required to pay CITB NI the existing construction levy of 0.65% on their total paybill as well as paying HMRC the 0.5% apprenticeship levy for their pay bill over £3 million.
For more information on the Apprenticeship Levy contact the Department for the Economy
E-mail: apprenticeshiplevyni@economy-ni.gov.uk
Phone: Joyce Rutherford – 02890 257605
Kerry McAuley - 02890 416989