The introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy has drastically changed the landscape of apprenticeships available for businesses across the entire country.
With funding now widely available for businesses to train apprentices, it is critical that training programmes are as engaging as possible to maximise the Levy and ensure a significant return on investment.
Apprenticeships provide both businesses and employees with vast opportunities to develop in several different ways. In the service industry especially, where improvements are critical to individual development, apprenticeships can serve as low-cost solutions for businesses. Whether it’s in finance, retail, or anything else that falls under the service industry bracket, saving time and money by investing in apprenticeship programmes can allow for significant progression long term.
In service industry training, constructing a programme that is aligned to the specific commercial contexts of the business and designed to embed learning back in the workplace can ensure that apprentices develop their skills to become fully competent in their field.
To begin maximising its Apprenticeship Levy, a business must first understand what it is, how it works, and how modern training methods can be utilised.
What is the apprenticeship levy?
The apprenticeship levy was enforced in 2017, and is designed to fund apprenticeship training across the UK. It is currently payable by all employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million at a rate of 0.5% of their total pay bill.
The funds from all employers who contribute to the Levy are placed into a digital account and are used towards the costs of training and assessment. For more information on the Apprenticeship Levy along with its requirements, please click here.
Here at MDA Training, we offer a one-stop shop in service industry training for your apprenticeship programme to help you maximise your Levy at all stages of the journey.
Service industry training for apprentices
As mentioned previously, utilising training methods that are precisely matched to the context of the business will go a long way in ensuring business continuity and return on investment. In the service industry, maintaining a workforce that is capable of carrying out a specific offering as well as possessing the commercial awareness to work to specific standards will likely bring success.
When it comes to apprentices, structuring their training and development to match the standards expected across the business will aid their progression from the beginning of their journey through to End Point Assessment.
Utilising modern service industry training methods such as experiential learning workshops and business simulations will allow apprentices to immerse themselves in a service offering where they can make mistakes and learn in a risk-free environment. Using the Apprenticeship Levy funding to make a real difference in the development of young individuals by adopting efficient ways of learning will likely provide tangible results compared to traditional training methods.
The Apprenticeship Levy can and should be used as a promising opportunity for businesses in the service industry to enhance the skills of young individuals and assist them in developing their careers in this competitive industry. By drawing on modern workplace training methods, this is more likely to be achieved.