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Digital Apprenticeship Service

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Digital Apprenticeship Overview

The Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) is an online platform in the United Kingdom that was introduced as part of the government's apprenticeship reforms in 2017. It is designed to facilitate the delivery, administration, and funding of apprenticeships.

The primary purpose of the Digital Apprenticeship Service is to connect employers, training providers, and apprentices. It allows employers to advertise apprenticeship vacancies, select training providers, and manage the training and assessment of their apprentices.

The Digital Apprenticeship Service enables employers to access funds allocated to them through the Apprenticeship Levy which is a levy paid by large employers to support the training and development of apprentices. Employers that do not have a levy account still require access to the platform to reserve funds or receive a levy transfer.

Overall, the Digital Apprenticeship Service aims to streamline and simplify the apprenticeship process by providing a centralised system for employers, training providers, and apprentices.

Setting up your Digital Apprenticeship Service Account

Before you begin

Get together the information you need to create a Digital Apprenticeship Service account. You will need:

  1. To be the person in your organisation with the authority to sign legal agreements as you will be required to accept an Employer Agreement with the ESFA. 
  1. A valid email address. 
  1. Your Companies House Number – if you don’t have it to hand, you can search for it here
  1. Details of your PAYE scheme. You will need either.
  1. Government Gateway User ID and password (Organisational Level only – individual or agent log in details will not work) OR; 
  1. Your Account Office Reference Number – this is unique 13-character code which is on the letter received from HMRC when you first registered as an employer.

Create the Account

The following video from the ESFA YouTube channel goes through the process of creating the account. To visit the YouTube page please click here.

  1. Go to this website to start to create a Digital Apprenticeship Service account.
  2. Enter your details to be set up as a user and then enter the verification code (sent by email to the given email address) when requested.
  1. Add your PAYE scheme – this is where you’ll need to enter either your Organisational Level Government Gateway User ID and password or your Account Office Reference Number.
  1. Confirm your organisation – this is where you’ll need your Companies House Number to search and link your organisation to the account.
  1. Accept the Employer Agreement – the functionality of the account will be restricted until this has been done.

Grant LSBU Access

  1. Go to the "Apprenticeships" section on the homepage. 
  1. Select to "Your training providers". 
  1. Select "Add a training provider". 
  1. Enter our UKPRN which is 10004078 and continue. 
  2. Select " Yes, add London South Bank University" and continue. 
  1. Click to return to your training providers. 
  1. Click on "Set permissions" next to London South Bank University:
  1.  
  1. Do you give London South Bank University permission to add apprentices’ records (Create Cohort)? The answer to this needs to be YES.
  2. Do you give London South Bank University permission to recruit apprentices’ records (Recruitment)? The answer to this needs to be yes if you would like us to help you to advertise with us on the National Apprenticeship Service website. If you already have an apprenticeship candidate in place, either answer is fine in this case. 
  1. Confirm permissions.

Small employers – Reserve funding

Smaller employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy share the cost of training and assessing their apprentices with the government. This is called ‘co-investment’. 

For new apprenticeships starting on or after 1 April 2019 you pay 5% towards the cost of apprenticeship training. The government will pay the rest (95%) up to the funding band maximum. 

You’ll pay the training provider directly and agree on a payment schedule.

If you employ fewer than 50 employees, the government will pay 100% of the apprenticeship training costs up to the funding band maximum for apprentices aged:

  • 16 to 18
  • 19 to 24 with an education, health and care plan provided by their local authority or has been in the care of their local authority

All apprenticeships that started before 1 April 2019 will continue at the previous co-investment rate of 10%.

You can pay the difference from your own budget if the price of training is more than the funding band maximum.

As a smaller employer, you will need to reserve funds in the ‘finance’ section of your apprenticeship service account before starting an apprentice. You can also give your training provider permission to reserve funds on your behalf.

You will need to create an apprenticeship service account to reserve apprenticeship funding. For further information visit our help article or watch our video.

Recording a change of employer

  1. The previous employer must ‘stop’ the apprenticeship and enter the apprentice’s last month of employment with them as their ‘end date’.
  1. The new employer needs to select ‘provider permissions’ and give the training provider permission to ‘create a cohort’. This will allow the training provider to move the apprentice.
  2. When the training provider has the right permission, they can move the apprentice in the ‘manage apprentices’ section of their account. The training provider will declare the month in which the apprentice moved to the new employer, the new training planned end month and the remaining costs of training and assessment.
  1. Once the training provider has created a ‘change of employer’ request, the new employer needs to approve it. They can access this in the ‘ready to review’ section within ‘your cohort requests’.

Employers that do not pay the apprenticeship levy, will not need to reserve funding when they approve a training providers request to ‘move’ an apprentice.

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