Apprenticeships at Ashtons Legal

Since April this year, any employer with a pay bill of over £3m has been required by the Government to pay the Apprenticeship Levy.

A standalone company will have to pay 0.5% of their annual pay bill, but will have a levy allowance of £15,000 to offset against this. The allowance is used to pay for apprenticeship training.While the introduction of the levy has led to controversy about apprenticeships and the new scheme, the experience of apprenticeships here at Ashtons has been a positive one.

In 2015, Ashtons Legal decided to trial the use of an Apprentice in a support role which was being created within our Norwich office. The Business Administration Apprenticeship took 12 months to complete and at the end of it the Apprentice concerned was successfully appointed into a permanent role with the Firm.

Since then over 30 people have joined Ashtons Legal as Apprentices, mainly Business Administration and Customer Service Apprenticeships. Most recently, we have also employed a Digital Media Apprentice.

The Apprenticeships have been created in various departments across the Firm’s five offices and we are proud to say that a large number of the Apprentices who have completed their 12 months with us have been offered permanent roles within the Firm.

Ashtons fully intend to continue utilising Apprenticeships and we anticipate there will be a greater range of opportunities including some Law related Apprenticeships.

We have worked with CILEx Law School and City Law School with the placement of an existing employee on the Trailblazer Solicitor Apprenticeship, which is an alternative route to the traditional law degree to becoming a Solicitor, and there are a number of other options available.If you need to understand more about the Apprenticeship Levy or its implications, Ashtons would be very willing to help you with this or any other Employment Law questions.