Workwhile, a not-for-profit that supports employers to create good-quality work, has found that hundreds of local authorities, NHS Trusts and police forces across England are not making full use of their apprenticeship levy.
The public sector is losing £1 in every £4 raised and retaining the levy for longer could have helped the sector create nearly 30,000 more apprentices. While some of the levy returned to Westminster has supported smaller employers in the private sector to create apprenticeships, millions more has returned to the Treasury to be spent elsewhere across Whitehall.
If an organisation doesn’t spend it within 24 months, they lose it. Given NHS Trusts, local authorities and police forces created 37,500 apprentices in 2022-23, Workwhile argues that giving the public sector greater flexibility over retaining the levy could help increase apprenticeship starts by up to 20% each year.
Anna Ambrose, co-founder and director of Workwhile, said: ”The public sector faces a recruitment and retention crisis. Local councils are struggling to retain top talent as their budgets are being slashed, police forces are now backfilling the officers made redundant a decade ago and NHS Trust provision could be affected by new immigration rules.
“Employers in England want to create more apprenticeship opportunities for their workforce, but they’re being hampered by an over-centralised, bureaucratic system. With £1 in every £4 unspent, giving the public sector greater control over creating apprenticeships is an essential part of the solution to crises facing the public sector and in doing so can ensure that communities have better access to more resilient services.”