IER is continuing to support the Department for Education (DfE) in the development of the apprenticeship programme. Following on from its work on the impact of the apprenticeship levy in 2017, IER analysed the responses to a survey of employers, providers and other stakeholders in February 2019. The survey analysis provided a clear understanding of employer and provider views with regard to apprenticeship funding policy, including recently announced changes, to feed into the development of future funding policy.

The survey forms part of the work that the Chancellor committed to, that HMT and DfE: “will work with a range of employers and providers to consider how they are responding to the apprenticeship levy across different sectors and regions in England, as well as the future strengthened role of apprenticeships in the post-2020 skills landscape”.

The survey gathered around 1,000 responses, mostly from employers. Analysis was undertaken by employment size, sector and region of employer. Questions asked respondents about: apprenticeship recruitment plans in the next 6-24 months; views on additional funding available for 16-18 year olds and people in certain disadvantaged groups (such as care leavers); price negotiation; use of the levy transfer facility; and the effect of reducing the contribution of non-levy payers from 10% to 5%.

Please contact Peter Dickinson for further details.

Project Team:

Peter Dickinson (Principal Investigator)

Gaby Atfield

Project Duration:

February 2019 - March 2019

Project Funder: