The Department for Education and the Skills Funding Agency want firms to sign-up for the apprenticeship service which acts like online banking.

The levy will require employers with a wage bill of over £3m a year to pay 0.5% of their wage bill into the apprenticeship service, to encourage them to invest into apprentices.

The online service then allows those employers to financially manage their apprenticeship programme and help them to estimate their financial spend and recruit apprentices through their training providers.

The Government said It will help employers:

• focus on their business priorities
• address skills shortages head on
• invest in the skills and training to help their organisations succeed

Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Robert Halfon said: “Our funding reforms are essential to ensuring that this country works to build a highly skilled workforce for the future.

“Nobody understands the skills employers need better than the employers themselves and that is why we are placing them in the driving seat, to ensure they get the talent they need to grow.

“All you need to do is set up an account, so I encourage employers to do it now so they can be ready for the levy coming later in this year.