Apprenticeship funding is managed through the online Apprenticeship Service Account (often referred to as your TAS or DAS account).
For levy-paying employers, this account is where you can see what funds you have in your levy pot and add learners so that training providers can draw down the funding. If you run out of funds, you can co-invest with the government for any further apprentices - you invest 25%, the government invests 75%.
For non-levy-paying employers, you will also need to setup your account, but instead of having funds in a levy pot, you simply need to register your training, as it's fully funded by the government if the apprentice is aged under 25. If they're 25 or older, you will need to co-invest 5% of the apprenticeship cost, which Lifetime will invoice you directly for on a monthly basis.
For both levy and non-levy-paying employers, we can support you in securing levy gifting from another business to help you fund your apprenticeships.
The government have created a helpful, step by step video guide on how to create an account on the Apprenticeship Service, which you can watch below. At Lifetime, we understand it can be time-consuming setting up a Digital Apprenticeship Service account, so we have a dedicated team to help you. Our specialists can walk you through the process via a phone or video call.
Adding and maintaining the details of your apprentices is arguably the most important part of the Apprenticeship Service. Without your learners being uploaded to the site, funding can’t be taken by the training provider which could eventually result in the learner being withdrawn from the programme.
Learners are added to your account in cohorts. A cohort can contain one or more apprentice, and each cohort has a unique reference code of six digits. Once learners are uploaded to the account, you can view their details or edit their status if instructed to by the training provider.
The Finance section of the account allows you to look at the amount of money in your levy pot, how much you’re currently paying to your training providers each month, along with projecting spending for the next 12 months.
The Projections show you the estimated money that will enter your levy account in the next 12 months based on recent payments. Similarly, based on the number of learners you currently have, the estimated spending in the next 12 months is shown. This does not take
into account any potential new learners.
You can also see the current balance of your levy pot, how much you’ve spent in the last 12 months, and the amount and date of any funds that are due to expire.
Have a specific question about setting up a Digital Apprenticeship Service Account? Talk to us for expert advice. We work with our partners to deliver over 40 apprenticeship programmes across different industries, functions and experience levels. Find out more about working with Lifetime.