Royal Mail has called on small and medium-sized businesses to apply for its £1 million apprenticeship levy fund during National Apprenticeship Week (9-15 February), as the company steps up efforts to address skills shortages across the SME sector.
Applications are open for the second round of the fund, which is open to companies with up to 250 employees that sell products online. The funding can be used for any government-recognized training, covering areas from industry-specific roles to digital marketing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and finance.
The initiative is part of Royal Mail Means Business, a wider campaign to promote SMEs and support their growth. The second round of funding, worth £1 million, launched in September following the success of the first, which was launched after joint research by Royal Mail and the British Chambers of Commerce identified skills gaps as one of the biggest barriers to growing businesses.
To date, Royal Mail has supported training across a wide range of disciplines, including marketing, human resources, software development and data analysis.
Under current rules, companies with an annual payroll of £3 million or more must pay the training levy. As one of the UK’s largest levy-paying employers, Royal Mail has decided to donate part of its levy to smaller businesses, which it says reflects its unique role in supporting businesses across the country. As the UK’s universal service provider, Royal Mail delivers to all 32 million addresses across the country.
Applications for the latest round of funding are now open via the Royal Mail Small Business Hub.
Kieran Judd, interim chief people officer at Royal Mail, said National Apprenticeship Week was an ideal time to remind SMEs of the support available. “Apprenticeships not only train individuals; they strengthen entire companies by developing talent from within,” he said.
“We know that many smaller businesses want to invest in new skills but do not have the resources to do so. By donating part of our levy, we are helping to close this gap and give SMEs access to the same high-quality training opportunities as larger organizations. We are proud to support the growth of the UK’s SME community.”
One company already benefiting from the program is Withnell Sensors, a Lancashire-based specialist in temperature and humidity solutions, including vaccine refrigerators and ultra-low temperature freezers. The company has received funding for Level 3 laboratory technician training.
Samantha Smith, managing director at Withnell Sensors, said apprenticeships were an important entry point into the business. “It is rare that we are able to recruit people with directly relevant experience, so the training program allows us to combine in-house training with officially recognized qualifications,” she said.
“As a result, we have expanded the capacity of our team, helping us meet customer turnaround times while allowing our senior staff to focus on expanding our accreditation and serving customers in new international markets.”
