Talk to us.

Most of it, yes. Our programmes are funded through the Growth and Skills Levy: money large employers have already paid in, which they can use on their own people or gift to others. Where funding exists, we find it. Where it doesn’t, we tell you before anything starts. The conversation always costs nothing.

Every UK employer with a pay bill over £3 million pays 0.5% of it into the levy, collected with PAYE. The money sits in the employer’s account for training, and anything unspent expires after 12 months. Most employers never use all of it: £1.5bn expires unused every year.

Yes. Levy-paying employers can gift up to half of their levy to fund training for other organisations, and we run the system that connects the two. Small businesses, schools and charities receive training this way with no cost to them.

Nothing you were going to keep. The money is already paid; gifting redirects the part that would otherwise expire. You choose where it goes, we run the administration, and we report back what it funded: people trained, roles filled, outcomes tracked.

No. We’re a social enterprise that designs funded programmes, finds the money, matches accredited providers and reports the results. The providers deliver the training and hold their own compliance, as the funding rules require. We never compete for a provider’s clients.

The funding comes with rules, not catches. Training must be accredited, delivered by an approved provider, and reported on. For young people entering work through First Rung, an employer commits a real vacancy before we recruit anyone. Those constraints are what make the money real.

The levy calculator takes a minute; the AI Skills Checker four. One call after that usually settles the route. Setting up a levy transfer has taken as little as a week.

Yes. The Courses page shows what’s available, from short work-ready courses to apprenticeships, and many are funded. If you’re not sure which route fits, book a call and we’ll work it out together.