During National Apprenticeship Week unionlearn have had some major highlights. The highlight for me was the webinar where over 100 trade union reps got together. We discussed how trade unions can support apprentices and how we will continue that support. We were joined by Sarah Jane McConnell from TSSA, the first trade union to sign the Apprenticeship Charter, and Steve Turner from Unite the Union. Steve does amazing work with apprentices and reps on employment rights and responsibilities.

It’s clear that trade unions are the people who make quality apprenticeships happen and if we want to build the future (#BuildTheFuture) then trade unions will be at the heart of it.  We will continue to do that moving forward in these difficult times.

Matt Pointon did a great job hosting, working behind the scenes with Matt we have been able to convince the BFAWU and Community Union to both sign the Apprenticeship Charter and this will happen soon so watch this space. Not that they need much convincing, both unions have a passion to support their own apprentices and those apprentices in the sectors the union supports.

We also have a number of videos from various individuals telling us how trade unions supported their own apprenticeship and we look forward to seeing those clips in the coming weeks.

One thing we discussed during the webinar was how some of the new levy rules will affect how employers think about using their levy pot. From August 2021, employers who pay the Apprenticeship Levy will be able to transfer unspent levy funds in bulk to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a new pledge function. Unspent levy funds will still expire after 24 months. The government will also introduce, from August 2021, a new online service to match levy payers with SMEs that share their business priorities.

However transferring levy funding is not an easy task and is full of pitfalls. Hopefully the simple infograph above will help explain how the system should work.

We will produce more detailed support for ULRs and reps but for now this should help.  Any transfer of funds to another party should be discussed with trade unions to ensure that those receiving the funds use it appropriately and that the levy funds support quality apprenticeships in line with the standards you would expect in your own workplaces.