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Apply for the Flexible Workforce Development Fund

Available to all apprenticeship levy-paying employers in Scotland

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If you’re an employer paying the apprenticeship levy in Scotland, you could apply for up to £15,000 towards the cost of training your workforce.

The Scottish Government’s Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) is available to employers across the private, public and third sectors subject to the UK Government’s Apprenticeship Levy.

The basics

  • The FWDF is for all apprenticeship levy-paying employers in Scotland across the private, public and third sectors
  • The Scottish Government announced the fund in their response to the UK Government apprenticeship levy, where they set out how they will use levy funding to support skills, training and employment in Scotland
  • Each Levy-paying employer can access up to £15,000 in 2018/19
  • The fund is in addition to apprenticeship support which all employers in Scotland can access. Visit apprenticeships.scot to read about Foundation, Modern and Graduate Apprenticeships

What the fund covers

  • The fund can be used to completely cover training or to partially cover training at a higher cost
  • Levy-paying employers who are eligible for the FWDF will have the ability to invest in the development of their supply chain in two ways:
        1) Levy-payers can give up their access to the FWDF and nominate up to two of their supply chain companies to receive all or part of their allocation of funding, or
        2) Levy-payers can include supply chain company staff in training.

Restrictions

  • Employers can submit only one application to the fund within the application period
  • Funding from the FWDF can not be used to support any qualifications or training that a company is already obliged by law to provide

How to apply

The deadline for apprenticeship levy-paying employers to make an application is the end of July 2019.

The Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) is administered by the Scottish Funding Council on behalf of the Scottish Government. Find out more, including how to apply, on the Scottish Funding Council website.

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