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Apprenticeship Levy – a taxing subject

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Wednesday 18 January 2017

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

On 7 April, the government will take the historical step of charging all UK employers (with a pay bill of £3 million or more) a 0.5% tax on that pay bill. Branded as the Apprenticeship Levy, this is a central component of the apprenticeship reform programme that began back in 2012 with the Richard Review of Apprenticeships. A fundamental driver of the coalition – and Conservative – governments’ ideology to increase the profile and uptake of apprenticeships has been employer ownership, or, as a former skills minister put it: ‘for employers to have skin in the game’. In order to achieve this, the Levy was proposed and will be enacted this year to ensure that employers have a stake (their own payroll) being invested in apprenticeships, with the ultimate intention that employers will be looking to recoup this tax through negotiating a price with providers to offer apprenticeships in their industry. According to the Department for Education, ‘the levy will allow us to double investment in apprenticeships by 2020 from 2010 levels, to £2.5bn.’

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Soft Brexit? Hard Lines…

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Tuesday 17 January 2017

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Today, Theresa May set out her overarching vision for Britain as it leaves the European Union. After receiving criticism for a number of general statements about her negotiation strategy, the Prime Minister set out a ‘truly global vision’ of a British future of working outside of Europe.

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Get planning in 2017.

By , Tuesday 17 January 2017

Planning your curriculum? We’re here to help! The below infographic features qualifications to consider for this year in a variety of sectors, plus details of our Study Programme and Functional Skills offers. Just get in touch with us if you’d like more information on any of our qualifications.

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The Institute for Apprenticeships needs rewiring before it’s switched on

By Nick Linford, Writing exclusively for NCFE, Monday 16 January 2017

Nicklinford

With less than three months until the launch of the Institute for Apprenticeships, and six months since the hunt for permanent board members began, the government finally wants your feedback on what the Institute should do. But you won’t find any questions or options to choose from in the ‘Draft Strategic Guidance’, something we are accustomed to from previous apprenticeship ‘consultations’. It seems we’ve moved into a new and pragmatic phase of policy making, where feedback should simply be emailed before the end of January to an old BIS account: [email protected]

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Theresa May plans to ‘transform’ attitudes to mental health

By Sophie English, Marketing Executive, Tuesday 10 January 2017

Sophie blog.jpg (1)

At the Charity Commission annual meeting, the Prime Minister pledged to help schools and companies in the UK deal with the ‘burning injustice’ and stigma surrounding mental illness. Demanding a new approach from government and society as a whole, Theresa May said that mental health had been ‘dangerously disregarded’ as secondary to physical health for too long. Mrs May outlined proposed measures to transform the way we deal with mental health problems across society, with a focus on children and young people.

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