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Written question asked by Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 July 2026. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Apprentices: Employment

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government how many apprentices aged (1) 18 or under, (2) 19–24, and (3) 25 and over, were employed in 2025 by employers with an annual pay bill of (a) between £3 million and £3.25 million, and (b) over £3.25 million.

Answer

All UK employers with an annual pay bill above £3 million pay the levy. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is responsible for collecting the levy on behalf of the government. HMRC publishes data on UK apprenticeship levy receipts at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk. In England, levy paying employers access Government funding for apprenticeships through their employer accounts, which they must set up.

Currently, employers who exhaust the funding in their levy accounts, which includes a 10% Government top-up, can continue to enrol apprentices, with government funding 95% of their training costs for a small contribution of 5%. From August 2026, government will fund 75% of the training and assessment costs once funds are exhausted.

We understand, from our engagement with employers and other stakeholders, that employers with smaller levy balances may be more affected by this change and we will carefully monitor the impact of this change as we implement it.

The department does not publish apprenticeship starts by size of employer pay bill, including starts by size of employer pay bill broken down by age.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL1245
Session
2026-27
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Apprentices Employment Finance
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk