If you are an HEI paying the apprenticeship levy (and many are), you will be making significant financial contributions to HMRC.
It’s clear however, from our work with HEIs, that many are facing unique challenges in developing an internal apprenticeship programme that meets the needs of the organisation and uses levy funding effectively.
Before our HEI webinar series in November, we thought we’d give a few pointers to help you lay the ground
1. Have the right expertise in place
The world of apprenticeships is complex and often misunderstood. Are roles and responsibilities clear and do you have the right expertise in your university to help set up and manage an apprenticeship programme? If not, you may want to think about either recruiting somebody with the right knowledge and expertise, train a relevant member of staff, or engage an organisation who can lead and support you through the process.
2. Plan together
Make sure that your HR, finance, operational teams and various faculties understand the impact of the levy and are involved in planning. Finance will have an eye on how the levy money is spent. HR will be focusing on the quality of recruitment, talent management, and learning and development – it will be important that your operational and faculty teams are involved in this too. It’s vital that all your teams and staff are pulling in the right direction, so plan together.
3. Map apprenticeship occupations to both faculty and operational roles
One of the first exercises that is worth completing is a map of apprenticeship occupations against the roles right across the university. Many HEIs naturally look at the more operational roles and see how apprentices might fulfil recruitment and succession planning. However, apprenticeships at higher levels are increasing (including at post-graduate level), some of which may feed into or support what are traditionally seen as more academic / teaching roles.
(For those attending the workshop, we’ll provide you with template resources to help you conduct this mapping exercise.)
4. Understand the impact
HEIs have found that their apprenticeship programme has impacted on other areas of the organisation, so it’s important to work through these as part of your planning. For example, recruiting degree / higher level apprentices are often high value, and could be an effective way of making a return on your levy contribution. However, you will need to consider the impact on any graduate training programmes and other recruitment pipelines you have in place.
5. Deliver apprenticeships as an HEI
One way to make good use of your levy pot and recoup costs is by training your own apprentices as an HEI. Over the last two years, a significant number of HEIs have started to draw on their contacts with industry to offer higher and degree apprenticeships by setting up new teams, systems and processes. This doesn’t just allow you to recoup levy costs, it also diversifies your offer as an HEI and establishes a new income stream. You can find out more about delivering higher and degree apprenticeships here. A number of case studies, events and support are also available here.
We’ll be covering more detail on all of the above, with tools and resources, at our workshop – details below.
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5-part webinar series, in partnership with UVAC:
HEIs as levy-payers – developing an internal apprenticeship programme
- How do apprenticeships work for levy-paying HEIs? (Weds, 22nd Nov 2017)
- You’re in the driving seat: apprenticeships as part of a talent management strategy (Tues, 28th Nov 2017)
- Mapping job roles to apprenticeships standards (Thurs, 7th Dec 2017)
- Sourcing apprenticeship providers: what to look for and how to negotiate (Thurs, 18th Jan 2018)
- Apprenticeships in practice: case study examples (Thurs, 25th Jan 2018)
More information and book here: www.strategicdevelopmentnetwork.co.uk/webinar-series-hei-levy-payers