Alliance Learning, along with 714 other training organisations, have been given a boost as the government begins awarding contracts from the 21 December worth nearly £500m to provide apprenticeship training for learners and small businesses.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is awarding contracts to hundreds of organisations to provide apprenticeship training to non-levy paying employers. Each of these employers does not pay the apprenticeship levy because they have an annual pay bill of less than £3million.

This will ensure all businesses have a real choice of high quality apprenticeship training provision, no matter where they are in the country or what sector they operate in. It will also mean that more people of all ages and backgrounds will have the opportunity to get into skilled employment. Employers looking to find an apprenticeship provider can do so through find apprenticeship training, which will be updated in early January.

Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Anne Milton made the following comments:

We are investing in our workforce to make sure there is no barrier on anyone’s ambition and that employers have the skilled workforce they need. The investment announced today will ensure that all businesses are able to benefit from high-quality apprenticeship training provision.

The awards follow a rigorous procurement process, designed to ensure the sustainable, ongoing provision of apprenticeship training for employers and learners over the next 15 months. Over 1,000 providers submitted bids.

The initial awards for this procurement total £485m, with successful providers able to bid for more funding over the contract period if they can demonstrate evidence of demand, and subject to the ESFA funding rules and affordability.

Contracts for the non-levy funding will run between January 2018 and April 2019.

For more details regarding the training and apprenticeship opportunities available through Alliance Learning, call 01204 696744 or email info@alliancelearning.com.

Source: Gov.UK