Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/690456
NETWORK / 23 / JUNE 2016 Disunited kingdom A cross the UK's devolved nations, civil servants are divided and uncertain about how they will structure the national apprenticeship levy – this much was clear from debate at the National Skills Academy for Power (NSAPs) annual conference in Glasgow in May. The event brought together representatives from the departments responsible for skills policy across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to inform delegates about plans to implement the levy, which takes effect in April 2017 and will require all employers with a wage bill of over £3 million a year to make monthly payments of 0.5 per cent of that bill to HM Revenue and Customs via PAYE. The money will be used to fund apprenticeships. It soon became evident at NSAP's event that although the collection mechanism for the levy will be the same across the UK, the way in which employers will see returns on their payments are far from decided and will likely be different from one devolved nation to another. For employers, including energy network operators that have operations spanning the UK, this could prove problematic and, at the very least, bureaucratic. In England, the way forward is relatively well understood. A policy commitment has been made that employers will get more out than they put in, so not only will employers be able to claim back 100 per cent of their levy payments in apprenticeship vouchers, they will also receive a 10 per cent top-up from government. Funds will expire 18 months a—er they are added to an account, so employers are motivated to train continuously. An online platform will be launched so employers can monitor their accounts and identify accredited training providers to deliver the services they need. What's not clear is how cross-border workers will be treated because, at the moment, levy rules will apply according to the employee postcodes held by HMRC. In devolved nations, there is, as yet, no commitment to deliver a top-up to employer funds – it is not even clear that employers will be able to draw back 100 per cent of what they put into their levy accounts. It's also unclear which training providers will be eligible for employers to use across devolved nations – an employer in Scotland may, for example, find that it cannot use levy funds with an English training provider. In part, the lack of clarity over plans in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a result of the political cycle – recent elections have put policy decisions on hold. However, there are also some quite fundamental differences in existing skills policy – including approaches to quality versus quantity in apprenticeship starts and commitments to provide wider-ranging training and upskilling support beyond apprenticeships. The standards against which apprenticeships are accredited may be another area of divergence. Some favour the use of longer-established National Occupational Standards, but England has advocated the use of the new Trailblazer standards. More news will be forthcoming on all of these points but, in the meantime, employers, NSAP and leaders at Energy and Utility Skills Group remain concerned that developments may undermine skills mobility in the sector, not to mention its ability to attract sorely needed new talent with robust and inspiring paths for professional development. N KEY POINTS l Clarity lacking over rollout of national apprenticeship levy l Scope for disruption to employers – especially those with employee bases that span devolved nations l NSAP also used its annual conference to officially launch its Skills Accord, which aims to enhance sector skills resilience through supply chain agreements. l In 2017, NSAP's annual conference, and its People in Power awards, will take place at Utility Week Live, in partnership with Network. As network operators struggle to address skills gaps, uncertainty prevails over the delivery of support for apprenticeship training across the UK. SkillS