UK : HOSPA (Hospitality Professionals Association for Finance, Revenue Management and IT), the UK’s leading non profit organization will be hosting a special Finance meeting in London on Tuesday, 17 January 2017 on ‘Everything you need to know about the Apprenticeship Levy’. It is a follow-on from the much-in-demand ‘Apprenticeship Levy’ Technical Update – presented by Annette Allmark of performance and talent management consultancy, People1st – at HOSPA’s November HOSPACE2016 Conference and Exhibition.
The 17 January meeting – open to both non-HOSPA members and members alike, will be held at One Aldwych, London WC2B 4BZ (nearest tube: Covent Garden), starting at 6pm and ending at 8pm. The speakers will be: Vanessa Clynes, Digital User Experience Manager, The Skills Funding Agency; and Keith Smith, Director of Levy Implementation, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The meeting is free to HOSPA members and costs £10 for non-members; and reservations can be made by contacting the Association’s Suzie Rose on email: suzie@hospa.org
The ‘Apprenticeship Levy’ will come into force on 6 April 2017 and requires all employers operating in the UK, with an annual pay bill of over £3 million, to make an investment in apprenticeships. The investment is set at 0.5% of an employer’s pay bill and businesses can benefit from this investment by training apprentices. Each employer will receive an allowance of £15,000 to offset against their levy payment. In addition, the government will give employers a 10% top-up on their levy, so for every £1,000 paid into the levy, an employer will have £1,100 to spend on the training.
Companies, with a pay bill under £3 million, will be asked to make a 10% contribution to the costs of their apprenticeship training. The government is proposing to offer extra incentives in the form of an additional £1,000 to employers, and an additional £1,000 to training providers, for training 16- to 18-year-old apprentices. This will also apply for training 19- to 24-year-olds who have previously been in care or who have a Local Authority Education, Health and Care plan.
Commenting on the 17 January 2017 meeting, HOSPA Head of Professional Development Debra Adams said: “Come to the January meeting and find out more about the ‘Apprenticeship Levy’ and how it can benefit your hospitality business. The launch of the ‘Apprenticeship Levy’ in April 2017 provides a great opportunity for hospitality organizations to access funding provided by the government, through co-investment in the training of apprentices, to upskill the UK workforce
“For our part at HOSPA, we are working to provide Association members with an opportunity to learn more about accessing money paid under the ‘Apprenticeship Levy’, and to provide guidance for financial teams to work with learning and development managers to determine how the funds can be used.”
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