- In 2024, Asda spent £3m funding apprenticeships – an increase of more than 30% year-on-year
- More than 200 Asda colleagues completed an apprenticeship alongside their day-to-day role.
- Asda funded more than 135 apprentices across 55 other business-es as part of the Levy Transfer scheme, including Associate Ambulance Practitioner, Police Community Support Officer, Pharmacy Technician and Adult Care Workers
Asda has today published its annual Apprenticeship Impact Report, highlighting its continued funding of career development opportunities for both colleagues and local communities.
214 Asda colleagues completed an apprenticeship alongside their day-to-day role last year, after the retailer added 12 new programmes to take the total on offer to 80.
New apprenticeships offered by Asda included the Dispensing Optician (DO) Level 6 – the first time an apprenticeship for this professional role has ever been run in the optical profession – and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Specialist.
Hayley Tatum MBE, Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer, said: “We are proud to offer a wealth of apprenticeship programmes that not only develop the huge amount of talent within our business, but also support wider small and medium businesses through the Apprenticeship Levy Transfer scheme.”
“With vital funds still going unspent, we continue to back calls for reform of the Levy Transfer system so more businesses can benefit. A more flexible and simpler system is crucial to providing more opportunities for young people to develop and upskill themselves.”
Asda’s report revealed that vital funding for apprenticeships is not being fully utilised, after £7.7m of its Levy Funds expired and went unused in 2024 due to restrictions on the type of apprenticeships and training posed by the government’s levy scheme.
The Apprenticeship Levy allows large employers to transfer up to 50% of their levy funds each year to other businesses to fund their apprenticeships, training and development. Asda continues to back industry calls for the government to overhaul levy scheme and add more flexibility to how the funds can be used, and believes that the UK Government must deliver the proposed Growth and Skills Levy as soon as possible.
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