PROMOTING a culture of kindness and care through a levy share. Timpson uses the Essex Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Service to fund apprenticeship training for care provider.

Timpson have worked with Essex County Council to transfer their apprenticeship levy to fund apprenticeships for Essex care provider Bloomsbury Home Care. Using the Essex Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Service, Timpson were able to easily provide funding to support five new apprenticeships. They are supporting the total apprenticeship training cost for four Adult Level 2 Care Workers and one Lead Practitioner in Adult Care Level 4.

Essex County Council recently launched the Essex Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Service to support businesses and increase apprenticeship opportunities within the county. 

There are several large levy paying employers within Essex. Based on ESFA data shared with the Open University in January 2019, we estimate that (Greater) Essex’s unspent apprenticeship levy had reached almost £85.8m. Unspent levy goes back to the treasury after 24 months. Instead of unspent levy being returned to the treasury, levy paying businesses can transfer up to 25% of their annual funds to other businesses to fund apprenticeship training. The Levy Transfer Service will help to facilitate this. 

Timpson are delighted to provide support to an Essex business through the Essex Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Service. Peter Harris, Director of Training for the Timpson Group, said: “Utilising our levy through a transfer is straightforward and simple, enabling us to support colleagues in like-minded organisations to train, develop and upskill their staff. If your organisation is unable to use all of its levy it makes sense to divert it to causes that match your own culture and values who might not otherwise be able to fund crucial workforce up-skilling.”

June Hillyard is the Operations Director for Bloomsbury Home Care and has built her career in care by working her way up. June is passionate about training, seeing its value translate to providing quality services and enabling staff to develop their career pathway. 

“Apprenticeships really help us to attract, retain and nurture our teams who provide person-centred care, supporting independence as much as possible. A simple, uncomplicated and well-organised Levy-transfer system is vital to supporting our apprenticeship training.”

Businesses can gift their unspent levy to strengthen supply chains, demonstrate corporate social responsibility and create strategic partnerships. The Essex economy benefits through increased skill provision and a strengthened, robust, skilled labour force.

The Essex Apprenticeship Levy Transfer makes the levy transfer process easy and accessible. Businesses wishing to gift their levy can register on the website and select the type of business and apprenticeship they would like to offer funding for. Businesses interested in receiving funding for an apprenticeship can register their interest on the website too. The Essex Apprenticeship Levy Transfer team matches businesses based on their criteria and guides them throughout the levy transfer process.  Visit the website and register online or contact the team for more information [email protected]