Bolton based, Alliance Learning, along with 714 other training organisations, have been given a boost as the government began awarding contracts from the 21 December worth nearly £500m to provide apprenticeship training for learners and small businesses.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) awarded contracts to hundreds of organisations to provide apprenticeship training to non-levy paying employers. Each of these employers does not pay the apprenticeship levy because they have an annual pay bill of less than £3million.
This will ensure all businesses have a real choice of high quality apprenticeship training provision, no matter where they are in the country or what sector they operate in. It will also mean that more people of all ages and backgrounds will have the opportunity to get into skilled employment. Employers looking to find an apprenticeship provider can do so through find apprenticeship training, which will be updated in early January.
Alliance Learning Operations Executive, Kelly Perkin has the following comments:
“ We are absolutely delighted to have been one of only 714 providers to gain a contract with the ESFA. The tendering process was a challenging time, however, we are pleased we can continue to provide high quality training to budding stars of the future from all ages, to Non-Levy employers and local SME’s. This rounds off a fantastic year for Alliance learning after maintaining our Grade 2 ‘Good’ Ofsted rating in May 2017, continued accreditation with Matrix, a 0% error rate from the ESFA and becoming one of the first providers in the country to gain the EDI BS 76005 Code of Practice for Valuing People through Diversity and Inclusion.
The awards follow a rigorous procurement process, designed to ensure the sustainable, ongoing provision of apprenticeship training for employers and learners over the next 15 months. Over 1,000 providers submitted bids.
The initial awards for this procurement total £485m, with successful providers able to bid for more funding over the contract period if they can demonstrate evidence of demand, and subject to the ESFA funding rules and affordability.
Contracts for the non-levy funding will run between January 2018 and April 2019.
For more details regarding the training and apprenticeship opportunities available through Alliance Learning, call 01204 677888 or email info@alliancelearning.com, alternatively visit our websitewww.alliancelearning.com
