What do I need to know?

Within the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System (ICS) there are over 22,000 employees working across acute, community, primary and social care settings, delivering care to a population of approximately 500,000.

As part of the ICS’s vision to improve outcomes in health and social care, tackle inequalities and enhance productivity, apprenticeships and levy sharing are important initiatives to help make this vision a reality. 

In recent years the government has reformed the way apprenticeships are delivered and funded in England. As part of these reforms apprenticeships are more robust, better structured and independently assessed to ensure apprentices gain the skills that employers need for their workforce.

There is a wide range of apprenticeships now available including higher and degree level apprenticeships. Not only can they support with addressing skills shortages, but they are an excellent means of attracting new talent, developing and upskilling existing staff, and retaining the workforce within the NHS.

What is an apprenticeship?

An apprenticeship is a job with training. They incorporate skills development, technical knowledge and practical experience through a work-based training programme.

Apprenticeships are available to anyone over the age of 16, based in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, either as a new recruit or an existing member of staff. Apprenticeships enable learners to demonstrate competencies while gaining a recognised qualification. Apprentices must be operating within the health and social care sector in STW and not in full-time education.

Individuals can undertake an apprenticeship at any level (this could be higher, equal or lower to a qualification they already hold), if it allows them to acquire substantive new skills. Employment is a fundamental part of an apprenticeship and an apprentice must have a contract of employment for the duration of the apprenticeship and must be paid at least the apprenticeship rate.

Organisations must either be a non-levy paying organisation or have already spent their levy for the year before applying. They must also be willing to support and mentor the employee to undertake the required 20% off-the-job training. 

How can apprenticeships benefit the organisation?

There are a number of ways apprenticeships are beneficial to an organisation. They:

• Help develop clear pathways and retain staff;
• Develop the existing workforce;
• Help to reshape the workforce;
• Can attract and recruit from a wider pool of people in the local community;
• Are flexible and innovative;
• Can recruit a diverse and representative workforce;
• Provide return on investment.

What is apprenticeship levy sharing?

In brief, the apprenticeship levy is paid by all employers who have an annual pay bill of £3 million or more. Those with a pay bill of less than £3 million don’t pay the levy and use different arrangements to pay for apprenticeship training. The levy funds are used to pay for apprenticeship training costs but not employment costs.

Key partners within the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICS are routinely not spending their full apprenticeship levy. Therefore, a levy sharing agreement has been reached between the ICS and key stakeholders where levy paying organisations have committed to sharing up to 10% of levy with non-levy paying organisations. This amount will then be reviewed at the end of each financial year.

The vision from the ICS for supporting this levy share is to ensure that the opportunity is maximised in order to develop our workforce across all areas of health and social care, with our larger levy paying organisations providing opportunities for smaller organisations to benefit from unspent levy.

How do I make an application?

To make a levy transfer application you will need to apply using an MS Forms application which includes the following information:

1. Title and level of apprenticeship standard/s
2. Details of the receiving organisation
3. Confirmation that the application is for new apprenticeships
4. An indication of the longer term plans for your apprentice/s on completion of their apprenticeship
5. Benefits of the apprenticeship to your organisation
6. Information on the apprenticeship standard/programme
7. Have identified a training provider/HEI and secured a prospective start date
8. Commitment to adhere to the ESFA funding criteria
9. Commitment to notify the ICS of the outcome of the apprenticeship/s.

For more information on the application process, as well as more detailed guidance on apprenticeship levy sharing, please click here.

If further support is needed, please email Ellen Shaw, Programme Manager for the ICS People Team, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

When are the deadlines?

Application deadlines end in October and November 2021 as well as March 2022.

Please also note that the whole process will take up to three months from application to receipt of funding. It is good practice to work back from when the apprentice would like to start training to ensure enough time is allocated to complete the process.