In April 2017, the Government introduced the Apprenticeship Levy for all organisations who had a Pay As You Earn payroll of £3 million or more, set at 0.5% of the payroll.
The aim of the Levy was to encourage employers to invest in their staff, as employers have the ability to claim back the levy in order to invest in apprenticeships or develop their existing employees.
The College of Policing at the same time, commenced a programme to professionalise the Police Service and introduced a programme where new recruits moved from the traditional in- house training to a 3 year degree course for new recruit.
The Police and Crime Commissioner and Cleveland Police have until September 2020 to phase out their current Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) and introduce the Police Degree Apprenticeship Scheme (PCDA).
The Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) on behalf of Public Sector Organisations have put in place an Apprenticeship scheme framework.
This framework is Public Procurement Regulations compliant and includes a Lot for the Police Degree Apprenticeship Scheme.
The Framework allows for a Further Competition or a Direct Award for providers of the PDCA. Following a paper evaluation of potential providers, a Direct Award under the Framework for the Police Degree Apprenticeship Scheme is the recommended option.