Unused levy disappears
Funds expire just 12 months after they enter your digital account, on a rolling basis. Every month you do not draw it down, money you have already paid is written off.
Apprenticeship Levy · AI & Automation
Spend your apprenticeship levy on AI skills your team will actually use
Your levy expires just 12 months after it lands, so unused funds are simply lost. Turn yours into practical AI and automation capability with the Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner and our AI Leadership Units, fully levy-funded, live online across England.
690 Google reviews · 4.9/5
Ofsted Good · all headline areas
Skills England approved provider
72% AI Distinction rate
The levy you have already paid, working for you
If your pay bill is over £3 million, you pay 0.5% into the apprenticeship levy every month whether you use it or not. Most employers let a chunk of it expire. AI and automation training is one of the highest-return ways to put it to work.
Fund real AI capability
Use your levy to upskill staff on Claude, Copilot, Gemini and automation tools, building skills that save time across HR, finance, operations and marketing.
An Ofsted Good provider
72% AI distinction rate, 4.9/5 from 690 reviews, and a client list that includes EDF Energy, the NHS, Transport for London and DPD.
What you can fund with your levy
Map the right programme to each role. All are levy-eligible, delivered live online, and built around no-code and low-code AI tools, so no one needs to be a programmer to take part.
AI & Automation Practitioner
The Level 4 apprenticeship for people in any department who want to build automations and use AI tools at work. No coding required.
AI Leadership Units
Short, focused units on AI strategy, adoption and governance for managers and senior leaders who need to lead AI change, not write code.
AI for Team Leaders
For team leaders and operations managers: how to spot AI opportunities, govern adoption and lead a team through practical AI change.
The full AI apprenticeship range
Level 3 to Level 6, plus leadership and management apprenticeships through CMI, CIPD, ILM and APM, all levy-eligible.
How it works
We handle the levy mechanics so your team can focus on the learning. From first call to cohort start is usually a matter of weeks.
Discovery call
A 30-minute call to understand your teams, your goals and how much levy you have available.
Map roles to programmes
We match the right apprenticeship to each role so your funds go where they add the most value.
We handle the paperwork
Enrolment, your digital apprenticeship account and the funding setup, managed for you end to end.
Your cohort starts
Live online delivery, with progress and outcomes reported back to you against the goals we agreed.
Do not pay the levy? If your pay bill is under £3 million you are not a levy payer, but you can still fund this. The government co-invests 95% of the cost and you pay just 5%. Smaller employers can have training fully funded in some cases. More for employers.
Why employers choose TESS
- No coding, no exams of the old kind. Learners build real AI tools for their actual job, assessed on the work itself.
- Live online across England. No travel, no lost days, cohorts that fit around the working week.
- Tool-agnostic. Your team learns Claude, Copilot, Gemini and the major automation platforms, not a single vendor's product.
- Reported outcomes. We agree success measures up front, time saved, cost avoided, output produced, and report against them.
- Trusted at scale. EDF Energy, the NHS, Transport for London, DPD, the Financial Times and 200+ UK employers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my apprenticeship levy for AI training?
Yes. The Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner and our AI Leadership Units are apprenticeship-funded, so your levy covers the cost. Your team learns to use AI tools like Claude, Copilot and Gemini and to build automations, with no coding required.
What is the apprenticeship levy?
UK employers with a pay bill over £3 million pay 0.5% of it into an apprenticeship levy each month. You draw those funds back down to pay for apprenticeship training. The levy is moving to the Growth and Skills Levy, and our levy guide explains what is changing.
Does my levy expire?
Yes. Funds expire just 12 months after they enter your digital account, on a rolling monthly basis, so unused levy is lost. Putting it toward AI training is one of the most useful ways to use it before it expires.
We do not pay the levy. Can we still fund this?
Yes. If your pay bill is under £3 million you are a non-levy employer. The government co-invests 95% of the training cost and you pay just 5%, and in some cases training is fully funded. We will confirm exactly what applies to you on the discovery call.
How much of my levy does one apprenticeship use?
Each apprenticeship sits within a funding band set by Skills England. On the discovery call we map programmes to your roles so you make the most of the funds you have available, rather than letting them expire.
How quickly can we start, and do apprentices need coding skills?
We run cohorts throughout the year and can usually start within weeks. No coding is needed: the Level 4 is built around no-code and low-code AI tools, so people across HR, finance, operations, marketing and more can all take part.
Put your levy to work
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We will show you how much of your levy you could be using and map the right AI programmes to your teams.
Last updated: 13 June 2026