Whistl Launches Apprenticeship Fund for Small UK Businesses

Whistl the UK’s leading logistics specialists in e-fulfillment, mail, and parcels has launched the Whistl Apprenticeship Fund. The company is inviting small businesses in the areas where it has sites to apply for funding for their own apprenticeship schemes.

Employers with an annual paybill over £3m have to pay the apprenticeship levy in monthly installments. These employers are termed as levy-paying employers. Employers have 24 months to use their funds once they enter their apprenticeship service account, after this point, their funds will expire.

Whistl Helping Small Businesses with Apprenticeship Funding

Whistl saw an opportunity to help small businesses that could not afford to fund their own apprenticeships by allocating its monthly surplus funds to them through the new transfer service.

Whistl typically has £30,000 a month available from its Levy to fund apprenticeship training both within the company and the community.  The Whistl Apprenticeship Fund is focusing on early years learning, digital and engineering-focused apprenticeships.

In a pilot study, the company has already helped 20 organizations fund Level 2 to 5 apprenticeships in areas including Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Yorkshire.

Organizations can view and apply for the Whistl Apprenticeship Fund at Search funding opportunities (manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk).

“We are pleased to be able to make such a positive impact in the communities in which we operate by investing in apprenticeship opportunities for organizations that are not able to benefit from the Levy Scheme.

“At Whistl we really do invest in our employees, providing opportunities for career development in all areas of the business whether through apprentice qualifications, the Kickstart scheme, our HGV Driver Academy, or our LEAP learning and development apprenticeship program which is open to all employees who wish to further their career.

“At Whistl we believe that people want to work in a company that will give them opportunities to upskill and to develop their potential no matter what their current role is.  We call our employee development program ‘We value your career’.  We are delighted that we can extend our program to also help provide people within our local community with career development opportunities too.”

Alistair Cochrane, CEO, Whistl

“Apprenticeships are playing a vital role in delivering the skills this country needs, and we want employers of all sizes to be able to hire and train apprentices with confidence.

“That is why we have given employers the freedom to reallocate their unused levy funds, as part of a cross-sector effort to support high-quality apprenticeship training.   

“It’s fantastic to see the work Whistl is doing to support local businesses and apprenticeships in their area, and I would encourage all larger businesses with leftover levy funding to follow their lead.”

Alex Burghart, Minister for Skills.

For more information on how UK employers can get involved visit: Funding an apprenticeship for levy payers (apprenticeships.gov.uk) or Transfers – Apprenticeship Service Support (education.gov.uk)

Dave Furness

Dave is a Co-Founder of eSeller365. For over 10 years he has been involved with eCommerce with a particular interest in the marketplaces and the huge opportunities available for sellers when utilizing a multi-channel strategy. After a year of being the UK’s youngest eCommerce consultant, he built an education platform called UnderstandingE that showed the world how to utilize Magento as the “Third Generation of Multi-Channel software”.

Dave has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to entrepreneurship and eCommerce as well as a podcast dedicated to mental health awareness. When Dave isn’t working his main interests include learning and playing Chess, researching the Crypto and NFT space, and trying to find the nearest beach.