Using an ATA

See the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-guide-to-apprenticeships-for-the-school-workforce/apprenticeships-for-the-school-workforce

4.1 Voluntary-aided and foundation schools

For voluntary-aided and foundation schools, the governing body is the employer. If the governing body’s pay bill is more than £3 million then it will need to pay the levy.

From the above If the school is a foundation school they are the employer and should be able to set up their own DAS account if not check the guidance for who the employer is under section 4.

HTH

Hi Martin,

The schools in question use the Council for Payrole, which apparently is what is causing the problem with the schools being unable to set up their own Digital account.

I sent this to the school:

We have found information pertaining to your situation with PAYE and the Council. It looks like you can get your own PAYE number which will allow you to get the grant and pay your apprentice.

Please follow this link for further information.

https://help.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/360020542100-Pooled-PAYE

Below is the response the school got from the council about this.

We are aware of this, having previously appraised this as one of the options. I’m afraid it wasn’t considered an option from anyone’s perspective, least of all the school.  It was thought to incur administration costs, a new payroll scheme/reporting and potentially further termination costs from leaving the existing payroll contract.  You yourself have identified another reason why this can’t be an option.  I share your frustration and disappointment, I only wish there was a solution.

I spoke to a council in the south who recommended (in good faith) this particular option to a school, it turned out that the individual’s personal tax and pension AVCE were negatively impacted, not sure how, but it is clear that there are some things not sufficiently thought through. 

We have been thorough in our appraisal of the options provided and if there was an answer I would be personally singing them from the rooftop.

We are still looking at ways of providing a local offer but as yet there is nothing available. 

We will  be raising this with the DfE.

As you can see it looks like there is a national problem and our schools are not the only ones with this problem.

Any help with the above would be greatly appreciated.

Sue

Hi, so things have moved on since my last post and we have found 2 ATA's the schools can use.

I now have a question about the 5% co-investment:

One ATA charges the 5% co investment irrespective of the apprentices age (ie we charge the employer for ALL apprentices)

the other only charges it if the apprentice is 19+ (we only charge the employer for 19+ Apprentices)

Would this be because one ATA is classed as Large and the other as Small? or is there another ruling about ATA's that I am missing

Sue

I expect that is the case but I would question if the ATA is a small employer as they are employing apprentices and may go over the limit for a small employer.

That was my thought too and unless they have changed their systems since I worked there they would be a large provider

Sue