£400k and counting! Evri and Total People continue levy gifting partnership

Parcel delivery company Evri has pledged £100,000 of its apprenticeship levy to Total People for the fourth consecutive year.

The pledge will enable smaller businesses to take on new apprentices and upskill their current employees. Total People are keen to support SMEs across the North-West to address skills gaps, whilst Evri hopes this will provide an invaluable boost to support the growth of small UK businesses and the development of their people as they continue to battle rising costs.

To date, Total People has secured a total of £5.5 million in similar levy gifting pledges from large employers.

Melanie Nicholson, Managing Director of Total People, said: “We are delighted that Evri has once again pledged their levy funds to help SMEs to grow and develop their workforce through apprenticeship training.

By combining our apprenticeships expertise with Evri’s generous funding, we can continue to support people into rewarding careers and help struggling sectors to combat the skills shortage. This money will make a real difference.

Introduced in April 2017, the Apprenticeship Levy is a tax on UK employers with a pay bill over £3 million each year; required to fund apprenticeships, support business productivity and grow quality vocational training and employment. 

Alternatively, businesses can gift up to 50% of their Levy funds to support apprenticeship training in other organisations.

Evri, the UK’s biggest dedicated parcel delivery company, has been pledging its levy since 2021. To date it has supported 48 employers and helped create over 70 apprenticeships including adult care workers, scaffolders and early years practitioners - a profession that was reported to be suffering from a shortage earlier this year.

Any small employer thinking of taking on a new apprentice, or enrolling a current employee on an apprenticeship, should contact Total People.