Apprenticeship Levy
Apprenticeship Levy Calculator
The Government’s Apprenticeship Levy was introduced on 1st April 2017 and is a levy on UK employers to fund new apprenticeships. It is calculated based on 0.5% of the Basic Salary and London Allowance for all College employees.
NOTE: This change is purely to do with the employer’s contributions. Individual employees will not see any reduction in their salary.
Some of the College’s main funders will meet this as an employment cost, so we should recover this where possible on research proposals. In cases where the Levy is not recoverable from specific funders, the costs will have to be borne by the grant-holding Department instead.
1) InfoEd Proposals
The Levy cost will be included on all future InfoEd salary costings effective from 6th April 2017.
It is not possible to create a separate pay element on InfoEd due to system restrictions, so the employer’s NI contribution percentage has been increased by 0.5% to take account of the Levy.
Since the Levy will be included on all salaries costed on InfoEd, the associated costs will have to be manually removed from proposals which are submitted to Funders who do not meet the Levy (e.g. Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Leverhulme Trust).
2) Apprenticeship Levy Calculator
When entering salary details on funders’ application forms, the Levy may need to be shown in different formats or excluded when a specific funder will not meet the costs. The Apprenticeship Levy Calculator [Excel] should be used by authorised InfoEd users in conjunction with InfoEd’s Staff Cost Detail Reports. The Calculator will display salary information in a range of different formats to assist with meeting funder requirements.
3) Funders Information
Several funders have clarified their funding position as summarised below:
a) Funders who will pay the Levy:
i) Research Councils UK
RCUK agree that the cost of the Levy can be charged through direct staff costs for both Directly Allocated and Directly Incurred Staff. The Levy charge can be included on all future applications submitted. No amendments to applications already submitted or existing grants will be allowable, but the charge can be recovered by transferring funds between allowable budget categories within the cash limits of the grant.
ii) Wellcome Trust
The cost of the Levy can be requested on applications as an additional charge for UK-based staff. This cost can also be charged on existing grants from 1st April 2017 onwards, but this needs to be met by moving funds between cost headings as necessary. Existing grants will not be supplemented and costings on current applications under review will not be amended.
iii) European Commission
Since the Levy is a statutory payment, it is a legitimate employment cost and should be eligible under H2020 personnel costs.
| Funder name | Current position | Website link |
|---|---|---|
| Bloodwise | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
| Breast Cancer Now | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
| British Academy | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
| British Heart Foundation | Final decision still pending. Until then, Levy costs will not be paid. | More information |
| Cancer Research UK | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
| Dunhill Medical Trust | Levy costs will not be paid | More information |
| Fight for Sight | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
| Leverhulme Trust | Levy costs will not be paid | More information |
| Multiple Sclerosis Society | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
| Parkinson's UK | Levy costs will not be paid | More information |
| Prostate Cancer UK | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
| Royal Academy of Engineering | Levy costs will not be paid | N/A |
NOTE: This table is updated with funder information as and when it is received. Please notify the Research Office of any other funders who will not pay the Levy.
4) Payroll System
ICT have developed Payroll functionality that allows the Levy to be charged as a separate pay element against each individual employee record, regardless of whether the staff member is externally funded by a research award or not.
Payroll costs will include a separate pay element for the Levy from 1st August 2017. Prior to this, the Levy was met centrally by the College.
5) Award Management
There will be a financial impact on existing awards because the Levy is included in the payroll costs of all employees charged directly to research projects, even if there is no provision for this in the original budgets. The Levy costs will have to be met by moving funds between budget headings (if allowable by the Funder) or met by the Department.
If a specific funder does not meet the Levy, the associated amounts will have to be manually removed from the salary costs before they are claimed. The Levy is calculated as a separate pay element on the Payroll system and will be included in the “RS Salary Breakdown” report in Discoverer.
6) Apprenticeships FAQs
If your Department is interested in funding training for apprentices, see Manager FAQs for more information.