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<p>We are committed to ensuring that our reforms to apprenticeships work for smaller
employers and their providers, such as group training associations (GTAs).</p><p>
</p><p>GTAs are important members of the training provider market, working for groups
of employers to provide high quality training. We ran a procurement exercise to secure
high-quality training to support small and medium-sized employers from January 2018
to April 2019. This was a highly competitive exercise attracting interest from a wide
range of training providers and we recognise that not all providers were successful
in the competition. The contracts we awarded have been subsequently extended to April
2020, supported by over £700 million funding for new starts and existing apprentices.</p><p>
</p><p>In addition to these contracts, the smaller employers are also able to receive
transfers from levy-paying employers, allowing GTAs access to levy-funded training.
We have also announced that we will shortly enable levy payers to transfer funds to
cover the full cost of training for 16 to 18-year-olds in the smallest businesses
with fewer than 50 employers.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier this year, we confirmed that small
and medium enterprises (SMEs), who do not pay the apprenticeship levy, would soon
be able to access the benefits of using the award-winning apprenticeship service (AS).
The AS, already in use by large levy paying employers, will give SMEs greater control
over choosing their apprenticeships, a greater range of training providers to engage
with, and a new route to access apprenticeship funding.</p><p> </p><p>We announced
at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) conference on 29 October
2019 that from January we will begin to transition SMEs onto the service, and will
be supporting up to an additional 5,000 starts per month from January to March 2020
for employers that don’t pay the levy. We will be issuing more detail on the transition
arrangements from November and throughout 2020.</p><p> </p><p>Officials meet regularly
with GTA England to discuss training provision, including in respect of apprenticeships.
We also work closely with the AELP, the Learning and Work Institute, and the Association
of Colleges to consider a range of sectoral issues and to ensure that our apprenticeships
reforms continue to work for employers of all sizes, including charities.</p><p> </p>
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