For Employers
Build a stronger workforce
Levy guidance, funding rules, ROI and everything you need to recruit, train and retain through apprenticeships.
Resources
Knowledge that
helps you decide.
Whether you're an employer weighing up the Growth and Skills Levy or a learner wondering what off-the-job learning means, our resource hub has the guides and plain-English answers to help you take the next step with confidence, across all five of our specialist sectors.
For Employers
For Learners
Start your career right
CV and interview help, what to expect on programme, wellbeing support and how to choose the sector that fits you.
Guides
Plain-English guides, written to be used.
17 guides for learners, employers and anyone with a question, covering what the funder, the awarding bodies and Ofsted expect us to explain. Each opens on this page; nothing to download.
Jargon buster
Apprenticeship terms, explained
The acronyms and phrases you'll come across, in plain English.
- Off-the-job training (OTJ)
- The paid working time an apprentice spends learning new skills away from their normal duties: a minimum of six hours a week, planned around the rota, not on top of it.
- End-Point Assessment (EPA)
- The independent assessment at the end of an apprenticeship that confirms the learner has met the standard. Carried out by a separate assessment organisation.
- Growth and Skills Levy (formerly the Apprenticeship Levy)
- A 0.5% payroll charge on employers with an annual pay bill over £3 million, paid into an apprenticeship service account and spent on apprenticeships, foundation apprenticeships and short-course units. Funds expire after 12 months.
- Co-investment
- The employer's share of training costs when government funding doesn't cover all of it. From August 2026 apprentices aged 16–24 are fully funded; for those aged 25 and over, non-levy employers pay 5% and levy payers who have used up their account pay 25%.
- Standard
- The blueprint for an apprenticeship: the knowledge, skills and behaviours a learner must demonstrate, set by employer groups and Skills England.
- Tripartite review
- A regular progress meeting between the apprentice, their workplace manager and their TLC coach to review learning and set next steps.
- Functional skills
- English and maths qualifications that can be built into an apprenticeship. Required for apprentices under 19 who don't already hold GCSEs at the right grade; for adults, at the employer's discretion since February 2025.
- Apprenticeship service account
- The government online account (formerly the Digital Apprenticeship Service, or DAS) where employers manage their funds, add apprentices and approve training providers.
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