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The future of Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are changing

Apprenticeships are changing and First Intuition are ready to help you make the most of this exciting opportunity to train your finance team.

The new form of apprenticeship is designed to help apprentices develop the skills which your business needs in the workplace. Apprentices are expected to develop and demonstrate key skills and behaviours as they go about their daily work.

Employers are in the driving seat – the new apprenticeship standards have been developed by employers to develop the skills which they need in their workforce. First Intuition will also work with you to tailor our apprenticeship programme to meet your business needs.

Introduction of the new apprenticeship levy – from April 2017, employers with a wage bill of more than £3 million will have to pay a 0.5% levy. The government’s aim is to raise £3 billion a year to support the creation and improve the quality of apprenticeships in the UK. Employers will receive a £15,000 allowance to offset the payment of the levy, which will be paid in vouchers. This is accessed through your organisations Apprenticeship Service Account.

Smaller organisations will also have access to apprenticeship funding. The government will contribute £90 for every £10 paid by the employer. This funding is accessed through your training provider.

If you are interested in offering the new Level 3 Assistant Accountant or Level 4 Professional Accountant/ Tax Technician apprenticeship in your organisation, please email [email protected] .

IS A FINANCE APPRENTICE RIGHT FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

What does an apprenticeship mean for your business?

Investing in your people

Helping your staff to work towards a professional qualification
can help on two fronts:

- It helps staff to develop the right skills for your business

- It motivates your team

Giving a bit back

Increasingly employers are looking at apprenticeships as a way of helping young people to start out on a rewarding career path.

This can be good for you and your firms’ reputation.

Government funded training for your staff (SME)

Government funding of to 100% is available towards the cost of training your finance team. This includes AAT, ATT, ICAEW, ACCA and CIMA.

Government funded training for your staff (Levy funded)

Your levy pot (plus a 10% top up) can be used to fund training for your finance team. Any costs which exceed the levy pot will be 90% funded by the government.

Interested? Call now to talk things through with our tutors.

We are happy to advertise your vacancy on our website. Please send details to [email protected]

There are many useful websites discussing the changes being made to Apprenticeships in the UK. The government website can be accessed below.

Government apprenticeships

APPRENTICESHIP TRUTHS & MYTHS

THE MYTHS

THE TRUTHS

No! Apprenticeships are available for anyone including graduates

Do I need to take someone straight out of school?

You can choose to transfer an existing employee onto the apprenticeship programme at any time. If you have a existing member of staff who you wish to develop this is a great chance to access free professionaltraining.

I would rather develop my current employees.

Of course! You may take on as many apprentices as your business can support.

I already have one apprentice, can I take on more?

Many finance apprentices have a general role which includes elements of office administration as well as dealing with invoicing and debt control. This is a common way for finance apprentices to start out in the industry and a basic accounting qualification will be helpful to them.

My staff are not in pure accountancy roles so an apprentice would not benefit.

In this uncertain environment many businesses are wary of committing to a long term

employment contract. We keep courses flexible so that employees can commit to training for a

15-18 month period. Although there is the potential to progress to a higher level of apprenticeship extending the arrangement to 3 years this is not a requirement for the employee or the employer.

I do not want to tie myself into a long term training contract.

You are correct that there are a lot of regulations surrounding apprenticeships but we will deal with most of that for you. Aside from allowing day release your relationship with your apprentice

is much like your relationship with any other employee.

The regulations concerning apprenticeships are complex and will take too much of my time to negotiate.

STUDY OPTIONS

APPRENTICESHIP FUNDING

Funding is available to any apprentice who:

- has the right to work in England

- is over 16

- works full time

Employees who take on a young apprentice (under 19) will be eligible to receive an employee contribution of £1,000.

EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS

An organisation who pays the levy will be receive a 10% uplift in funds and may use these to fully fund their apprenticeship programme.

An organisation which is not in the levy will usually be asked to contribute 10% of the costs of the training, although a small organisation (with less than 50 employees) will be fully funded.

FINDING AN APPRENTICESHIP

You can find your own apprentice by advertising on the National Apprenticeship website or we can help you with this process.

Please contact us for more information.

Next Steps

If you would like to know more please contact [email protected] to arrange a meeting.

Accountancy & Finance

AAT is a great qualification for anyone who has anything to do with finance.

The qualification is spread over three levels to suit the experience of any student.

As a stand alone qualification or as a basis for progression to chartered accountancy, AAT is a great way to develop your staff.

- Assistant Accountant (Level 3) Reading and Southampton.

This course provides a solid entry level qualification for school leavers or for those who have not studied before. It can be extended to include the key knowledge from level 2.

- Professional Accountanat Tax Technician Level 4 - Reading

We often recommend that new students start with level 3 AAT as this provides a solid basis for any further studies.

Apprentices can move to a different level 4 apprenticeship after they have completed level 3 of AAT or continue to study level 4 AAT. Completion of level 4 AAT provides exemptions from many of the foundation papers at ACCA, CIMA and ICAEW.

More specialized apprenticeships are described below.

Management Accountancy - Technician Level (Level 4)

CIMA is a qualification sought by accountants who work in finance departments in industry.

The management accountant apprenticeship develops basic accountancy skills and covers the first level of the CIMA qualification. This programme is the most flexible and can be tailored to suit school leavers or more experienced candidates.

This is a recognised stand alone qualification or can be a stepping stone to complete the

full CIMA qualification.

Accountancy and Finance - Technician Level (Level 4)

This qualification covers the technical material at the Certificate level of ICAEW.

It is suitable for anyone working in accountancy practice but ICAEW is increasingly popular iwith students working in industry. It is a stand alone qualification (CFAB) and also lays the foundations for those who wish to go on to study chartered accountancy with ICAEW.

This challenging qualification is suited to those who have achieved solid grades at A level.

Tax Specialist - Technician (Level 4)

This qualification is suited to those who are working in a tax department in an accountancy practice. We reccommend that it is taken after completing the Assistant Accountant (Level 3) to ensure a good basic level of understanding.

Candidates will complete the ATT papers as their knowledge for the apprenticeship.

Apprentices can progress from ATT to become Chartered Tax Advisers

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS

As part of the any apprenticeship programme the apprentices will be required to demonstrate skills and behaviours which are appropriate to the level of study.

First Intuition will provide a number of in house skills days which will equip your apprentice with the skills ready to implement them in their day to day work. We work as a team with the apprentice and his line manager to make sure that both the apprentice and your business benefit fully from the programme.

Some examples of the skills days we will offer include:

Analysis and interpretation of accounts
Effective IT skills
People and communication skills
Ethics in the business environment

VACANCIES

If you are interested in finding out more about available Apprentice vacancies, as an employer or an employee, please contact Jo Dyson, [email protected], for the latest information on current positions.