The Apprenticeship Levy is paid by companies with an annual wages bill of over £3m in the UK. With every apprentice contracted to spend 20% of their time in off-the-job training, these companies seem likely to spend their Apprenticeship Levy funds buying in training.
Many companies have embraced the Levy and have set up Apprenticeship schemes to train young people coming in to their industry. The rules on how the Levy can be spent are complex, but the bottom line is that if a company does not spend its Levy, the money is forfeited. It's proving to be a good incentive for companies to formalise and expand their learning programmes and to become accredited as apprenticeship training providers.
Companies which pay the Apprenticeship Levy definitely have a budget for training and learning.