Guide to using the Digital Apprenticeship Service

From April 2017 the Government funds apprenticeships changed for all organisations with an annual pay bill greater than 3 million, through the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy. You will pay the Apprenticeship Levy each month through your PAYE process in the same way you pay PAYE and National Insurance contributions. Your payroll or finance department will have been sent your Government Gateways login details to set up your Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS). 

Once your DAS is set up you will be able to:

• access and manage apprenticeship funding
• advertise vacancies on find an apprenticeship(https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship)
• choose an apprenticeship training course and find a training provider
• give feedback on apprenticeship training
• give training providers permission to carry out some tasks on your behalf

As an employer who pays the apprenticeship levy, you'll be able to:

• add PAYE schemes you want to use for apprenticeship funding
• add your organisation contracting with training providers

As an employer that does not pay the apprenticeship levy you'll be able to reserve apprenticeship funding.

When you have declared your Levy for the month you will see the balance in your account at the end of the following month. To enable you to sign into your account you will need to accept an Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Agreement, which you can access vis your DAS or the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/file/603864/agreement-pdf.pdf

Once you have accepted your agreement with the ESFA you will be able to authorise payments for apprenticeship training and End-Point Assessment (EPAO) with the training providers you have chosen to manage your apprenticeships. Each provider has a unique UKPRN Number. To ensure you pay the right provider, please contact us for the correct number.

If you do not have enough funds in your account to pay for the training in any given month, you will be required to co-invest with the government. This means you will pay 5% of the outstanding balance for that month, and the government will pay the remaining 95% up to the funding band maximum. If costs agreed with your provider are over the maximum cap, then you must pay the difference out of your own budget.

Apprenticeship Levy payments are a deducted expense for the purpose of Corporation Tax.

If you do not spend your apprenticeship levy within 2-years this will automatically return to the treasury.