You might be wondering exactly how you calculate your levy and how it is worked out. Your apprenticeship levy payment is 0.5% of your annual wage bill minus the government’s allowance of £15K. The funds that you receive into your digital account for spending on apprenticeships will equal your ‘levy payment’ plus the 10% top-up applied by the government.
Using the apprenticeship levy calculation formula
Your levy payment amount is calculated using this simple formula:
LEVY RATE (0.5%) X WAGE BILL (IF ABOVE £3 MILLION) - OFFSET ( £15,000) = PAYABLE LEVY AMOUNT
If your company has an annual wage bill of less than £3 million you will not have to pay the levy since a levy allowance for this wage bill bracket would be less than the £15,000 offset amount. For example:
LEVY RATE (0.5) X £2,000,000 = £10,000
£10,000 - (OFFSET) £15,000 = No levy payment
Apprenticeship levy calculation examples
Based on real-life cases, we’ve included some apprenticeship levy calculation examples below using our levy calculation formula.
Calculating the levy for large employers
For a large employer with a payroll bill of £200,000,000 their levy total would be: £200,000,000 x 0.5% - £15,000 allowance = £985,000
Calculating the levy for small employers
For a smaller employer with a payroll bill of £18,000,000 their levy total would be: £18,000,000 x 0.5% - £15,000 allowance = £75,000
Don't let your apprenticeship levy funds expire
It’s important to note that these funds expire (and default to the government) after 24 months, so it’s advisable to use them where you can. After all, the majority of these funds are made up of a tax your business has paid and set aside.
Answering your apprenticeship levy questions
We have many years of experience advising large and small businesses on what sort of funding they’re entitled to receive for apprenticeships (both levy paying and non-levy paying).
If you have any questions about calculating your apprenticeship levy amount, contact our friendly team who will be able to advise and answer any questions you may have. You can find out more on our apprenticeship levy page.
Lifetime levy calculator forecasting tool
We’ve developed a bespoke tool to provide a detailed forecast of your levy spend over a five-year period. It considers incremental pay increases, learner fluctuations, and funding incentives to plot client levy usage over five years.
This insight is vital for ensuring a proper return on investment on your apprenticeship levy spend and is just one part of the expert service provided by Lifetime to support your success.
Get in touch with our expert team to find out how to get more from your levy investment.
Want to optimise your levy? We work with our partners to create bespoke apprenticeship levy strategies.
Find out howBefore working with Lifetime, we weren't using our apprenticeship levy effectively and were limited in terms of training for our internal employees. By offering apprenticeships across the business, we're creating more opportunities and a clear path of progression for our people
