M&S and the Co-op have become the latest retailers to urge the government to reform the current apprenticeship levy rules.
M&S group director of human resources Sarah Findlater told The Times that the current scheme is “too difficult to access, so millions of pounds are going unspent”.
Under the scheme’s current rules, employers with an annual payroll bill of more than £3m are required to pay 0.5% of costs into a fund for training which they can claim on to meet some of their own apprenticeship costs.
However, Findlater explained that the retailer, which has 200 apprenticeships, would like to take on more trainees but is restricted from doing so.
She has called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt “to reform the levy and make it more flexible and simpler for employers to access this fund so we can create even more apprenticeships and valuable career development opportunities”.
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Co-op is calling for private and public sector organisations to work together to ensure the levy is used more effectively.
It said that that unspent apprenticeship levy totalled £96m in 2022/23, which could have funded 9,000 apprenticeships.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggests £3.7bn will be raised by the levy this financial year, and to ensure this doesn’t go to waste, Co-op is asking businesses to consider contributing excess, unspent apprenticeship levy funds to levy share programmes.
These programmes will allow employers to share up to 25% of unspent funds, rather than return them to HM Treasury.
Through the convenience retailer’s own levy share, over £23m has been pledged by 80 organisations, which has matched over 2,000 apprenticeships of which 1,400 have started their training.
Co-op chief of people and inclusion officer Claire Costello said: “We urge every organisation that finds itself with excess apprenticeship levy funds to consider supporting a levy share initiative.
“By doing so they can play a crucial role in supporting the creation of roles for people both starting out in their professional careers, and those with experience already under their belt, to get into purposeful careers at organisations that might otherwise be struggling with limited budgets in 2024.
“Apprenticeships are a key driver of social mobility among this group and can play a major role in shaping future economic prosperity.”
