Apprenticeship update March 2023 – part 4

Foundation and Voluntary Aided Schools

Reminder! Pooled PAYE Issue continues..

As F/VA Schools do not come under the County Council’s apprenticeship levy, this has meant that they have had to use co-investment to access apprenticeship funding. However, as previously communicated, there are ongoing issues regarding this that arose from the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) changes made in 2021.

As a reminder, the ESFA made changes to the way apprenticeship funding is accessed. Since April 2021, all employers are required to set up and use a Digital Apprenticeship Service Account. For an employer to set up an account, they need to enter their PAYE number. F/VA Schools come under the DCC’s PAYE number (as part of the Pooled PAYE scheme). As DCC already has an Apprenticeship Service Account using that PAYE number, schools who share the Councils PAYE number are unable to set up their own account.