Aston University offers a growing range of Degree Apprenticeships across sectors such as business, IT, engineering and healthcare. 

Degree Apprenticeships offer a work-based route to higher education, resulting in graduates with work experience, Additionally, Apprenticeships are a great way to develop staff, plan progression, and support high-performing employees, resulting in retaining them and their capability.

How to partner with us

Apprentices gain hands-on experience in the workplace while studying towards a degree, applying theory directly to their day-today role. 

To develop your current employees:
 • Browse our available apprenticeship programmes and check the entry requirements
 • Contact our team at apprenticeships@aston.ac.uk

Recruiting new hires:
 • Explore our programmes to find one that suits your business needs
 • Contact our team at apprenticeships@aston.ac.uk
 • Advertise your vacancy via your company page, the national Find an Apprenticeship search engine, UCAS, or other job sites. 

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Advice on the Apprenticeship Levy

If an organisation has a payroll of over £3 million, it’ll need to pay 0.5 per cent to the government.

What you have to pay

You are required to pay the apprenticeship levy at a rate of 0.5 per cent if your annual UK payroll is over £3 million. However, the government will also provide an annual allowance of £15,000 so employers can draw down the full amount of their levy funds to spend on apprenticeship training.

Here's how it works:

Non-levy paying organisation Levy-paying organisation
Annual pay bill: £1,000,000 Annual pay bill: £10,200,000
Levy calculation: 0.5% x £1,000,000 = £5,000 Levy calculation: 0.5% x £10,200,000 = £51,000
Minus levy allowance:

£5,000 - £15,000 =

£0 annual levy payment

Minus levy allowance:

£51,000 - £15,000 = 

£36,000 annual levy payment


You can use this apprenticeship levy calculator to work out if your organisation will pay into the levy, estimate how much you'll have to spend on apprenticeships training and the government's contribution towards the cost of training.
How to get your money back

If you are a levy-paying employer, you must declare your levy through the PAYE process. You will then receive your funds every month in proportion to the number of your employees based in England.

Levy funds can be managed through the dedicated online apprenticeship service and can be spent on apprenticeship training fees in England. Levy-paying organisations will also benefit from a 10 per cent monthly top-up from the government.

For every £1 that enters your online account, the government will pay a further 10 per cent. Using the above example, assuming a levy-paying employer has all of their employees based in England, they will receive £3,300 a month. Any allowance not used will be carried into the following month, so you won't miss out on additional government funding.

You have 24 months to spend the fund in your account, otherwise they will be returned to the government.

What support you get if you don't pay the levy

The costs of training are supported by the government, covering 95 per cent of the course fees. Plus there’s no National Insurance to pay if the apprentice is under 25.

Employers with fewer than 50 employees could get up to 100 per cent funding if the apprentice is under 19 or if they are 19 to 24 and have previously been in care or have a local authority Education and Health Care Plan. Additional incentive payments of £1,000 are also available for employers who take on apprentices that meet either of these criteria.

As of April 2019, levy-paying employers with unused apprenticeship levy funds may transfer up to 25 per cent of their annual funds to any employer. Employers may transfer funds to as many employers as they wish to be used for the cost of training and assessment of apprentices.

More information can be found on Gov.uk

Sub-Contracting for Apprenticeship Statement

Aston University will plan and authorise apprenticeship programmes with the intention of delivering all parts of the programme itself. However, this may not always be possible, and, in such circumstances, the University may agree to subcontract the delivery of any part of an apprenticeship. The University will comply with  ESFA Department for Education (DfE) funding rules when dealing with subcontracting and management of apprenticeships.

General Considerations
The University is committed to delivering high quality teaching and learning for apprentices and works closely with employers and subcontractors to manage the relationship and the quality of external provision. The University also reviews the performance of subcontractors and provides administrative support functions.

Where subcontracting is required, the decision to subcontract will be discussed with the employer before entering into a subcontract arrangement and the specific arrangements for services with the employer, eligible for the period from when the contract commences until the planned completion date of an apprenticeship, will be agreed between the parties. At all times Aston University will lead the employer relationship.

The management fees are individually negotiated with each subcontractor and are agreed between the parties in advance of the commencement of the subcontracting arrangement.

  • Typically, the management fees cover the provision of:
  • Administration
  • Quality Assurance
  • MIS function relating to the submission of funding claims to the ESFA DfE
  • Provision of management meetings