Your apprenticeship levy is already paid — use it

The apprenticeship levy is not an optional cost. If your annual pay bill is more than £3 million, you pay 0.5% of it into a digital apprenticeship service account every month, minus a £15,000 allowance. That money is yours to spend on training — but only for 12 months. The Growth and Skills Levy replaced the Apprenticeship Levy and halved the window from 24 months, so funds now expire twice as fast and return to the Treasury. The 10% government top-up has gone too, and once your funds run out you may co-invest 25% of further training costs.

Most large employers we speak to are letting at least some of theirs expire. Not because they don't want the training, but because nobody owns the job of turning the balance into a programme.

Why marketing is a good use of levy funds

• The skills gap is real and immediate. Marketing changes faster than almost any other function. Channels, platforms and AI tooling shift year on year, and teams that were fully capable three years ago often aren't now.
• It works for existing staff, not just new hires. You can enrol someone already in your team. That's often the fastest return available — you keep the institutional knowledge and add the formal capability.
• It produces a recognised qualification. Our Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship embeds a Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification at no extra cost, so your people finish with a credential the wider industry actually rates.
• The work is your work. Apprentices develop on your live campaigns and your real objectives, so the output lands in your business rather than in a training exercise.

You can also transfer what you won't use

Levy payers can transfer up to 50% of their annual funds to other employers — commonly to businesses in their supply chain, or to local SMEs and charities. If you're consistently under-spending, a transfer arrangement turns an expiring balance into genuine goodwill, and it's a lot less work to set up than most people assume. We can walk you through it.

How we work with larger employers

1. We look at your account balance, your expiry profile and where your marketing capability gaps actually are.
2. We agree who's enrolling — new apprentices, existing team members, or both.
3. We handle enrolment, funding paperwork and compliance, and report progress at whatever cadence your L&D team needs.
4. Training runs alongside the day job. Apprentices contribute from the start rather than disappearing to a classroom.

Not a levy payer?

If your pay bill is under £3 million you don't pay the levy, and the funding works differently — usually better. See marketing apprenticeships for small businesses.

What it costs

For apprentices under 25, the training is 100% government-funded — you pay nothing towards it. For apprentices aged 25 and over, it's 95% funded. Depending on who you hire, you may also qualify for hiring incentives worth thousands, including the Youth Jobs Grant.

The ROI calculator will give you a rough figure in about a minute, or we can give you exact numbers for your business on a call.