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Guidance

Apprenticeship funding

How the government funds apprenticeships in England, including details of funding bands and the apprenticeship levy.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Work and Pensions
Published:
17 May 2018
Last updated:
29 July 2026
Show all updates

  1. 'Apprenticeship funding' has been updated in line with changes to the apprenticeship funding rules from 1 August 2026.

  2. Deleted the attachment 'Apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy' as this has been published as separate guidance.

  3. The guidance for 'Apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy' has been updated to include information about apprenticeship units.

  4. 'Apprenticeship funding' has been updated in line with changes to the apprenticeship funding rules from 1 August 2025. We have added information on the new apprenticeship assessment principles and the employer incentive payments for eligible foundation apprenticeships.

  5. Updated 'Apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy' to reflect a change in terminology from 'commitment' to 'approved apprenticeship record.'

  6. 'Apprenticeship funding' has been updated in line with changes to the apprenticeship funding rules from 1 April 2024.

  7. We have updated the policy paper on apprenticeship funding to reflect the new apprenticeship provider and assessment register. We have also updated the eligibility section with information about crown servants posted overseas. We have updated the policy paper on apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy to include information on when employers can backdate a reservation.

  8. 'Apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy' has been added. Information has been included about the 'Apprenticeship funding: the eligible and ineligible costs of training' consultation response. A link has been included to older versions of these policy papers on the National Archives.

  9. Updated 'Apprenticeship funding in England (from April 2023)'.

  10. Apprenticeship funding: the eligible and ineligible costs of training consultation response added

  11. Updated 'Apprenticeship funding in England (from June 2022)'.

  12. Updated 'Apprenticeship funding in England (from November 2021)'.

  13. Updated 'Apprenticeship funding in England (from August 2021)'.

  14. Updated 'Apprenticeship funding in England (from August 2020)'.

  15. Added 'Apprenticeship funding in England (from August 2020)'.

  16. We've added the new document: apprenticeship funding for employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy. This outlines changes to the way employers who do not pay the levy arrange their apprenticeships.

  17. Added 'Apprenticeship funding in England from April 2019'.

  18. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Apprenticeship funding

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Details

This guidance sets out how the government funds apprenticeships in England.

It explains the apprenticeship funding policy that applies to apprentices who started on or after 1 August 2026.

Previous versions of the policy papers are available on the UK Government Web Archive, covering updates back to 2017.

The apprenticeship funding rules gives guidance on the rules that employers and training providers must follow to get funding for training and assessing apprentices.

Further information

In December 2020, we ran a consultation on how the apprenticeship budget is managed. You can read the consultation response.

The equality assessment sets out the effect that this apprenticeship funding system will have on groups with protected characteristics - for example, disabilities.

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