Tees Valley Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (TVAGE)

On 1st August 2016 funding for the delivery of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers in the Tees Valley was devolved to the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA). 

An enhanced programme of apprenticeship grant support was offered, leading to an approximately  50% increase in take up by local employers.  Consequently, delivery partners were informed in December 2016 that the criteria and eligibility of the TVAGE Programme were to be reviewed by the TVCA Board in January 2017, in order to consider and refocus priorities in light of that enhanced demand.

The TVCA Board review has now been completed and additional funding has been secured to support the programme going forward to ensure that we continue its successful delivery.   The revised criteria for the period January to July 2017 is detailed below:

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• All eligible applicants will continue to receive £1,500 of support per apprentice (comparable to the National Programme);
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• However, the Combined Authority Board has also agreed that an additional payment of £1,000 (ie £2,500 in total) should be paid for apprenticeships which make a specific additional contribution to the delivery of the Strategic Economic Plan for the Tees Valley.  This will apply to apprenticeships being delivered under the following apprenticeship frameworks:
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• Construction;
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• Design;
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• Digital & ICT; and
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• Engineering
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The criteria below, which continues to represent an enhancement on the national programme, remains as previous:

• The grant is available to all SME’s within the Tees Valley
• Tees Valley companies can start an apprentice and receive the grant regardless of whether they have taken one in the last 12 months, as long as the previous position is still within the business.
• Tees Valley companies can apply for up to 3 grants in a 12 month period.

All applicants who have submitted an application for support from 1st January 2017 up to publication of this notification will retrospectively be assessed against the revised criteria.

PROCESS UPDATE

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• The current tranche of TVAGE funding is for apprentices who start their training January – March 2017. This funding cannot be backdated to support employers who have apprentices that started training before January 2017.
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• Grant Requests for January – March 2017 starts must be submitted by Friday 7^th April 2017.
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• TVAGE funding will be awarded on a ‘first come, first served’ basis – using date order that the TVU Project Team receive Request Forms. It is not necessary to have the Application or other documents ready before submitting the Request Form.
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• For evaluation purposes, the Request Form has been revised to capture the gender of apprentices. Where possible, please use the revised version – See the TVAGE Request Form link on the left.
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If you’re an SME in the Tees Valley area, did you know that £1,500 is available to you for employing an Apprentice?

The Tees Valley Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (TVAGE) is available to all Tees Valley based small and medium sized businesses employing Apprentices aged 16 to 24 who are following an Apprenticeship Framework.

What grants are available?

The TVAGE grant provides a core grant of £1,500 per Apprentice.

When will this be available?

The grant is available for new Apprentices aged 16-24 years who start their training between 1^st January and 31^st March 2017. It is accessed through their training provider who must be SFA registered Click Here to find the full list of the Tees Valley Learning Provider Network Ltd (TVLPN)

Please note funding is allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Which employers are eligible to receive this funding?

Tees Valley Employers with up to 250 employees, who have employed an Apprentice (aged 16 to 24 years) who started their training between 1^st January and 31^st March 2017.

Employers will be required to commit to:

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• employ the Apprentice for the duration of their Apprenticeship training (a minimum of 12 months); and
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• pay at least the Apprenticeship National Minimum Wage.
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TVAGE grant payments will be made in full upon completion of eligibility checks once the Apprentice has been in employment / training for 13 weeks.

Click here for a full list of Tees Valley Postcodes

For further information please contact the Tees Valley Project Team on 01642 524454 or click here to email the team

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