Co-investment - Non Payment by Employer

As I understand it, ESFA won't claw back their 90% of the 80% On Programme Payments. If you were audited, you'd just need proof that you really did chase it repeatedly. That's not written anywhere, it's just what I've been told informally. However, I think the entire 20% Completion payment gets withheld. We don't let an apprentice get to EPA if the employer hasn't paid, we'd withdraw them before that. We'd try and find the apprentice a new employer before EPA. It's a really tricky one to explain to the apprentice. "We're really sorry you've wasted your time and can't now pass your apprenticeship because your employer refuses to pay". You don't want to put them in a position where you're asking them to hassle their employer about it, but it is seriously impacting on their education. They may not want to change employer, even if it means not passing. They may be totally shocked and wish you'd told them earlier so they could change employer sooner. It's a horrible position, that we've found ourselves in twice now.

Thanks Ruth.  It really is a horrible position to be in.  My worry is that he will make the apprentice redundant/give her notice without making any coninvestment payments.  We always support our apprentices to find new employers wherever possible, but I'm not convinced that would be the outcome in this case.  

I think our hands are tied through no fault of our own. We cannot cover the costs of Training and  EPA without the 20% completion payment. It's absurd as the only prerson that will suffer is the Apprentice..........