Last year we told you how we are leading the design of the world’s first supply chain degree apprenticeship and the project is very much underway. The intention is for this to be ‘business led’, so there is still an opportunity for further participants to be involved in the project which we would very much welcome.

As a reminder, on 6 April 2017, the way the government funds apprenticeships in England is changing. Some employers will be required to contribute to a new ‘apprenticeship levy’, and there will be changes to the funding for apprenticeship training for all employers. The levy will be imposed on all employers operating in the UK with a pay bill over £3 million each year and they will be able to claim the levy payment back only if they invest in apprenticeships. Other employers with a pay bill lower than £3m will be able to take advantage of a 90% government subsidy to invest in apprenticeships.

In response to this government initiative to boost skills in the UK economy and to address the skills gap in our own industry, the Uniserve Group, the Supply Chain Academy, Leeds Trinity University, and the Institute of Supply Chain Management, in conjunction with a group of logistics and supply chain firms are jointly developing a new degree apprenticeship to address the growing skills and management gap in the UK supply chain sector.

This group, led and chaired by Uniserve & The Supply Chain Academy, will develop the ‘standard’ for the degree, in terms of the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed in the sector and organisations including Nestle, Sainsburys, Florette UK & Ireland, PD Ports, Muller and Universities including Cranfield, Warwick Manufacturing Group, Hull and more are all working together to design this (unique to our industry) ‘business led’ degree apprenticeship.

If you would like to join the team in designing this degree, want to know more about how to manage your levy, or would like to know how to take advantage of the 90% government subsidy, please contact Sally Gale on 01708 259 450, sg@supplychinacademy.org.uk.