Cutting the costs of hiring an apprentice

Somerset employers have been celebrating this National Apprenticeship Week after benefiting from a scheme that enables them to fund apprenticeship training via Somerset County Council’s apprenticeship levy.

The initiative supports Somerset based employers to access the funding via a transfer of the Council’s apprenticeship levy funds, which means zero cost to the employer for the training.

Somerset County Council, in partnership with Somerset Skills & Learning, have now supported 27 Somerset employers by transferring over £280,000 of funding in the last twelve months.

Naomi Bartin, Manager of Yeovil based nursery Little Discoveries, has been one of the employers to benefit. Naomi said:

“Receiving the levy transfer has enabled us to invest more in our staff. In the last year we have been able to introduce fresh new talent to train and develop and this has provided us with progression routes for our workforce using the apprenticeship programme. Little Discoveries are grateful to the funding which has enabled us to train apprentices at no cost to the setting.”

Other employers to benefit include Court Fields Pre-school in Wellington, Abacus in Taunton, Footprints in Burnham-on-Sea and Oakfield School in Frome.

Somerset Skills & Learning offers apprenticeships across the county and is keen to work with more employers to increase the number of apprentices supported by the Council’s levy.

Dave West, Head of Employer Engagement at Somerset Skills & Learning, commented,

“This great initiative has helped remove the cost of paying for apprenticeship training and enabled more small employers, especially in the care sector and schools, to benefit from the high quality training of new talent at no cost to them. We’re grateful for the support from Somerset County Council and keen to work with more employers to benefit from apprenticeships, funded by the levy transfer.”

For more information on apprenticeships and your business accessing a levy transfer, contact Somerset Skills & Learning by email at enquiries@sslcourses.co.uk