Apprenticeship funding
How the government funds apprenticeships in England, including details of funding bands and the apprenticeship levy.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
These policy papers set out how the government funds apprenticeships in England.
They explain the apprenticeship funding policy that applies to apprentices who started on or after 1 AprilAugust 2023.2025.
Previous versions of the policy papers are available on Thethe NationalUK ArchivesGovernment Web Archive, covering updates back to 2017.
The apprenticeship funding rules gives guidance on the rules that employers and training providers must follow to get funding for training and assessing apprentices.
Further information
In December 2020, we ran a consultation on how the apprenticeship budget is managed. You can read read the consultation response.
Further information
The The equality assessment sets sets out the effect that this apprenticeship funding system will have on groups with protected characteristics - for example, disabilities.
There is more information on the apprenticeship funding rules.
Updates to this page
Last updated
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Updated 'Apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy' to reflect a change in terminology from 'commitment' to 'approved apprenticeship record.'
Update history
2025-05-15 16:00
‘Apprenticeship funding’ has been updated in line with changes to the apprenticeship funding rules from 1 August 2025. We have added information on the new apprenticeship assessment principles and the employer incentive payments for eligible foundation apprenticeships.
2025-02-18 13:28
Updated ‘Apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy’ to reflect a change in terminology from ‘commitment’ to ‘approved apprenticeship record.’
2024-03-28 09:30
‘Apprenticeship funding’ has been updated in line with changes to the apprenticeship funding rules from 1 April 2024.
2023-10-31 12:00
We have updated the policy paper on apprenticeship funding to reflect the new apprenticeship provider and assessment register. We have also updated the eligibility section with information about crown servants posted overseas. We have updated the policy paper on apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy to include information on when employers can backdate a reservation.
2023-07-24 13:05
‘Apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy’ has been added. Information has been included about the ‘Apprenticeship funding: the eligible and ineligible costs of training’ consultation response. A link has been included to older versions of these policy papers on the National Archives.
2023-04-04 14:12
Updated ‘Apprenticeship funding in England (from April 2023)’.
2022-09-08 08:43
Apprenticeship funding: the eligible and ineligible costs of training consultation response added
2022-07-01 11:03
Updated ‘Apprenticeship funding in England (from June 2022)’.