Transfer to Transform launches in North Hampshire and Surrey
Transfer to Transform – launch of new apprenticeships campaign
Hampshire County Council has welcomed a new campaign encouraging employers in North Hampshire and Surrey to pledge their unspent apprenticeship levy money to smaller businesses, to enable them to cover the costs of training an apprentice.
Led by the Apprenticeship and Skills Hub (launched earlier this year), the Transfer to Transform campaign will boost employment opportunities and support the post-Covid recovery of the local economy.
Commenting, Councillor Roz Chadd, the County Council’s Executive Lead Member for Children’s Services, the lead partner in the Hub, said:
“Following on from the success of our own £2 million Council levy transfer scheme – which in 18 months has funded 450 apprenticeships, training long-term unemployed and hard to reach young people in essential services such as care homes – Transfer to Transform will make unspent levy money even more accessible to a wider range of employers and apprentices.
“The Apprenticeship and Skills Hub has a three-year target of enabling at least 360 small and medium businesses to take on apprentices to develop their workforce and reduce local skills shortages. Our Hub experts will be the conduit between large and smaller employers and provide information and guidance on how to make the most of the levy transfer funding for apprenticeship training.”
Surrey County Council has contributed £100,000 of its own levy funding to implement the campaign. The Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Property, Natalie Bramhall added:
“As a Council and large local employer, we’re delighted to support this campaign. Apprenticeships have an important part to play in supporting Surrey’s ambition that no one is left behind as well as in helping businesses gain the crucial skills they need for the future.
The Apprenticeship Levy is a tax on employers which has to be used to fund apprenticeship training. Unspent levy can be transferred to other employers. Transfer to Transform will tap into the estimated £400m of unspent levy funds from approximately 5000 employers nationally in order to channel that through to the region’s businesses. The Apprenticeship and Skills Hub team will support large employers to facilitate the transfer of their levy funds to support smaller business apprenticeships. This free, impartial service to businesses also includes ongoing advice and guidance on skills solutions, business to business (B2B) networking and wider support on skills solutions for business growth.
Full details are available on our Transfer to Transform webpage or by speaking directly to a member of our team.