The Apprenticeship Levy is an area of live debate within the Skills sector, with fact and fiction often coming together to create polarised positions. In this short article, Mark Cameron explores the nuances of the Apprenticeship Levy and suggests that the debate would be helped through better shared understanding.
In his 2022 Spring Statement speech (delivered in the House of Parliament on 23 March 2022) the former Chancellor, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, highlighted how we, in the UK, lag behind our international peers when it comes to Adult Technical Education, and committed to “considering” whether the current tax system, including the operation of the Apprenticeship Levy is doing enough to incentivise businesses to invest in the right kinds of training.
This sparked a flurry of interest in reform and stimulated multiple articles and thought leadership papers on the subject; some accurate and some less so …
The Apprenticeship Levy, its operation and utility, and the benefit it delivers in skilling the workforce has become an interesting and sometimes emotive area of debate. There are numerous views matched by varying levels of understanding, and multiple perspectives that feed a similar number of realities. And all driven the absence of a simple and singularly clear narrative that can be understood by all.
